


Worlds Collide, Jared/Jensen, NC-17 future AU

by meus_venator



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alien Invasion, Aliens, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angsty Schmoop, Apocalypse, Body Modification, Cop Jared, Dubious Consent, Future Fic, Harlequin, J2, J2 AU, M/M, Man handling, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mystery, PI Jensen, Physical Disability, Post Invasion Earth, Private Investigator Jensen, Romance, Scarred!Jensen, Suspense, Transformation, alien transformation, cop!Jared
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-25 14:57:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 42,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1652744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meus_venator/pseuds/meus_venator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen didn’t trust the Teeg, mankind’s ‘Salvation’ and he certainly didn’t trust their Enforcers. Then Jared enters his life, an oddity, a human Enforcer in a mostly Teeg dominated profession. Is this Enforcer any different, and can Jensen trust him with the dangerous knowledge he is carrying? More importantly, can he trust him with his heart?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Worlds Collide

**Author's Note:**

>   
> **Title:** [When Worlds Collide](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/59664.html)  
>  **Author:** [](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/)**meus_venator**  
>  **Art:** [](http://siennavie.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://siennavie.livejournal.com/)**siennavie**  
>  **Beta readers:** [](http://fufaraw.livejournal.com/profile)[**fufaraw**](http://fufaraw.livejournal.com/) , [](http://sylsdarkplace.livejournal.com/profile)[**sylsdarkplace**](http://sylsdarkplace.livejournal.com/) and [](http://anniespinkhouse.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://anniespinkhouse.livejournal.com/)**anniespinkhouse**  
>  **Pairing:** Jared/Jensen  
>  **Genre:** Dystopian AU, future!fic, case!fic, Scifi, near-future  
>  **Rating:** NC-17  
>  **Word Count:** 43k  
>  **Warnings:** brief instance of torture  
>  **Disclaimer:** This is a work of fiction. No harm or disrespect intended.  
>  **Written for** : [](http://spn-meanttobe.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://spn-meanttobe.livejournal.com/)**spn_meanttobe** **2014 Purpose of challenge to reinvent a romance novel plot into a J2 story.**
> 
>  
> 
> **Original Book Summary _[Formerly: To Trust a Cop]_**  
>  _A tumultuous childhood taught private investigator Merlene Saunders that police are nothing but trouble. Then her latest surveillance job takes a dangerous turn when her subject is murdered and she becomes the focus of the killer. Like it or not, she's hit the police radar, and in steps sexy detective Cody Warren…trouble of a whole different kind._
> 
>  
> 
> Against the odds, Merlene feels safe with Cody—he won't let her in harm's way. Very quickly things are intense between them, and her walls start coming down. Now she's torn between the lessons of a lifetime and the urge to open up to the one man she can trust…
> 
>  
> 
>  **Summary:** Jensen didn’t trust the Teeg, mankind’s ‘Salvation’ and he certainly didn’t trust their Enforcers. Then Jared enters his life, an oddity, a human Enforcer in a mostly Teeg dominated profession. Is this Enforcer any different, and can Jensen trust him with the dangerous knowledge he is carrying? More importantly, can he trust him with his heart?
> 
> [Master Post](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/59664.html)  | [Chapter One](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/59539.html)  | [Chapter Two](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/59261.html)  | [Chapter Three](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/58880.html)  | [Chapter ](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/58731.html)[Four](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/58731.html)  | [Chapter Five](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/58502.html)  | [Chapter Six](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/58128.html)  | [Epilogue](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/58091.html) | [Art Master Post](http://siennavie.livejournal.com/29819.html)
> 
>  ~~~~  
> [ Lovely ePub cover ]
> 
>  
> 
>  

 

: : :

Jensen squinted across the plaza through a hissing cloud of steam as Chang emptied his wok into the next customer's bowl. He took one last look to be sure, before a disappointed sigh passed his lips. Jensen swore softly in Mandarin, dropped his own bowl onto the counter with a clatter, and shoved off his stool at the noodle stand.

Throwing one last longing look at his uneaten dinner, he shouldered his bag and stepped out into the rain to follow his client.

“Later, Chang.” Jensen nodded at the old vendor who ran the stall. After a week hanging out outside Qualls' office in the rundown plaza in the human sector of the Upper West Side of New-Newyork, Jensen was well acquainted with the vendor.

He paused long enough to grab his cup. If he had to do this, at least he could keep his damn coffee.

As he hurried to catch up, he splashed through dirty puddles, slipping past the solemn line of Teeg worshippers who threaded their way though the crowd, clanging little cymbals between their fingers. The stink of dirty wet cement and swirling fog, layered with smells that never had a chance to clear and dissipate, went unremarked, part of living in Teeg city. Jensen called up Qualls' schedule on the comm he wore strapped to his forearm. This was not the young scientist’s regular routine. Qualls' normally pale face looked even pastier than usual through the pouring rain. He threaded his way through the crowded street filled with humans and outworlders, and the unrelenting babble and hum of many bodies in a tightly compressed space.

Nón lá, conical hats, scattered through the crowd like spear points in the pouring rain. Although the Teeg had gradually been getting Earth’s ecosystem back under control, after years of global warming, tropical style rains were the order of the day throughout much of the year in New-Newyork.

The Teeg, after "The Salvation" inhabited new, ultra modern, sleek accommodations of more reasonable proportions clustered around what used to be Central Park but was now know as the Teegan Grand Promenade.

Most of the land beyond the former Central Park was now occupied by the superstructures, fading to much smaller pre-Teeg residential buildings of only twenty to thirty stories, original architecture, lapsing, without adequate upkeep, into run-down and dilapidated condition as you got closer to the edges of Manhattan. The only occupants there were human, unable to afford the cost of living in even the smallest windowless efficiency unit on an interior corridor of a superstructure.

 

The superstructures housed the bulk of humanity – buildings hundreds of stories tall, with bridges connecting building to building. They were mammoth things mankind had never developed the tech – or the need – to build, and included the residential towers that housed more than a third of the population of the former United States, along with some five million of Earth's newest inhabitants, the Teeg. The structures now crowded the Island, causing their own weather, trapping smog and rain due to the height they reached into the atmosphere. Sunlight no longer reached the streets, or the lower levels. The superstructures were their own mini-cities, containing everything, corporate offices, elite shops and restaurants on top, industries on the lower levels, dozens of floors of residential units at mid-levels, with food and produce, ordinary restaurants and other services clinging to the fringe areas.

 

Jensen reluctantly admired the skill with which the scientist hailed a pod-shaw off the busy streets. Almost magically, an unoccupied one appeared immediately, and Qualls was halfway down the block before Jensen was able to reach his own rover, and fight his way into traffic.

Managing to steer the hover-rover and balance his hot coffee, Jensen fumbled with his comm and tried to hail Qualls. “Answer me, damn it.”

Qualls' pod-shaw disappeared around a corner, and Jensen stepped on the accelerator. The less-than-new rover groaned in protest, but hiccupped forward. Jensen swore as scalding coffee sloshed onto his hand.

Qualls' secrecy was starting to get on Jensen’s nerves. If he hadn’t needed the money so badly, he would have ditched the quirky scientist days ago. Shaking his head, he zigzagged his way past heavyworld loaders and other hover craft, both manned and unmanned. His nose wrinkled at the exhaust of antiquated – and illegal – fossil-fuel powered scooters.

He needed to find out where Qualls was going. It was no secret he was tailing the man. Hell, after the series of threatening letters and vids ordering Qualls to stop what he was doing, or else, it was the geneticist himself who had hired Jensen to find out who was behind the threats.

Watching the vids proved surprisingly unproductive, the pastiche of edited together words and images never said exactly what Qualls was supposed to stop doing, or why, or what would happen to him if he didn’t. And though the scientist was always pleasant, he was stubbornly elusive when Jensen tried to interview him about his work, and who might wish to harm him.

As Jensen's mom would have said if she were still alive, it was like trying to herd cats.

Frustrated when the few leads Jensen had to go on had dead-ended, he threatened to quit. He informed Qualls that if he wouldn’t disclose everything Jensen needed to know, he might as well hire a couple of bodyguards and hope for the best. The young man had begged him to stay on his case, and they had ended up with an... unsatisfactory compromise, to Jensen at least. Qualls would disclose any new information to Jensen immediately, and Jensen would provide round the clock surveillance to see if he could spot anyone stalking the scientist.

All of which left Jensen tired, frustrated, soaking wet, and hungry, trying to follow a man who seemed to dodge his help at every turn.

Receiving no pingbacks from his comm, Jensen smashed his hands down on the rover's old fashioned steering wheel in disgust. At least the small three-wheeled pod-shaw Qualls had rented was not flight capable. Having the man restricted to the ground lanes was one small mercy at least.

The pod-shaw took another sharp turn to the right and down twelve levels into Skag Town. Jensen followed, his gaze narrowing. He rubbed his hand on his aching knee, barely aware of his habitual action. Skag Town was named for the outworlders who controlled the area, a race of armored reptilians known best for their attempt to take over Earth, which had resulted in the Teeg rushing to Earth’s supposed "rescue" more than thirty years ago.

A ruthless, literally cold blooded, mercenary species with back room connections in the Allied Confederation of Planets, the Skag had been allowed to return to Earth only a few years ago, in small, controlled numbers. Or at least those were the counts admitted to on record. It was rumored that bribes had been paid at the highest levels of the ACP for the privilege. The Planetary defense systems went down suspiciously often, and Jensen was sure black market runners brought in Skag by the boatload, every time. To Jensen’s way of thinking, and most other humans' too, they should never have been permitted to set their clawed toes on Earth again.

In the short time they’d been allowed back, Skag had taken over a ten block radius of sublevel nine on the Upper West Side. True to form, the area was now notorious for money lending, drugs, prostitution, and, it was whispered, human trafficking. Even the Enforcers seemed to give the area a wide berth.

Jensen was surprised that a cosseted, geeky scientist like Qualls would go that deep into the sublevels, especially alone in an automated pod-shaw.

The rover's wipers swished furiously, barely keeping up with the latest shower. Jensen squinted through the pouring rain, as he tracked the pod-shaw’s movements. If the man wouldn’t answer his comms, Jensen had a backup plan, a locator beacon he’d slipped into Qualls' bag at an earlier meeting–unless the cagey scientist had ditched that, too. Jensen licked his lips nervously. He wouldn’t put anything past the man. It was like Qualls' had some kind of death wish.

The pod-shaw finally came to stop in front of a busy pedestrian walkway, and Qualls jumped out, darting into the crowd without a backward glance. Cursing, Jensen braked his rover, pulling it up onto the curb. Pedestrians scattered away from him like wild geese. He only had two points left on his license before they nulled it. He’d have to resort to black-market tags, at this rate. He hoped the rover wouldn’t be towed. Impound fees were a bitch, and he wasn’t exactly sure his new client would pay the fine.

Sure, he could take the extra half hour to find legit parking, but Jensen’s gut was telling him it was vital he keep on Qualls' six. And his gut wasn’t usually wrong. Cursing the scientist, Jensen snatched up his bag and his coffee and stepped out into the rain.

: : :

Back on foot on the busy streets, Jensen threaded his way as quickly as he could through the crowds. Unwashed scents of various races pressed in on him as he tried to catch up with the fleeing man. Jensen dodged personal carriers with loads of live produce, streams of bicycling workers returning home from the day shift, and brightly clothed, plastic-wrapped hookers of a dozen different species, most of them peeking in feigned coquettishness from beneath shiny umbrellas, offering their wares in a cloud of ripe perfumes that was mingled and magnified, rather than dissipated by the pouring rain.

Glad for his height advantage at six foot one, Jensen peered ahead, through the multitude of clashing neon signs advertising various wares, steam rising off carts offering food, and meats of questionable origin. He could barely make out Qualls' yellow rain slicker through the steam coming off the city streets. The scientist looked nervous, even twitchy. Jensen wondered again what Qualls was up to, as he worked to keep him in sight.

 

_“Don’tWalkDon’tWalkDon’tWalk.”_

The mechanical drone of the crossing bot rose above the traffic and street noise. As the walk light changed to red, Jensen limped to a halt a few people back in the crowd from Qualls. A steady drizzle of rain had plastered Jensen’s hair to his head, and he shivered in the damp. His leather jacket was proving less than adequate against the constant downpour. He grimaced in distaste, as the rainwater leaked inside the collar of his coat. Squirming in discomfort, he ran his hand across the nape of his neck to wick some of the wet away.

He glanced up in time to witness Qualls hold up his arm, flashing his comm, his head darting around to check his position. Jensen groaned. Showing off a top of the line comm could get the man mugged, if not killed, in Skag Town. Blissfully unaware, Qualls nodded to himself, seeming satisfied with his chosen route, and lowered his arm, a determined look on his face.

The changing light caught Jensen balancing his drink while trying to pull his collar higher on his neck. _“WalkWalkWalk.”_

The crowd surged forward, Jensen the rock they streamed around. He had started to move when he was suddenly knocked sideways. His coffee was sent flying, as someone shoved impatiently past him with a growl.

“Hey!” He shouted as he watched his coffee spill onto the asphalt. Glancing up at the culprit he bit back the angry snarl that had sprung to his lips. A Teeg’s eyes flashed silver at Jensen as it strode past, an arrogant smirk on its face. Asshat! Jensen thought as he righted himself.

At more than seven feet tall, his accoster had the striped hair of his kind, and towered over the mostly human and Skag crowd of pedestrians. Settling for a laser-like glare of doom at the Teeg’s back, Jensen decided forgiveness was the better part of valor, especially when up against a seven-foot outworlder who also happened to be a member of the ruling class on his planet.

History had shown him it didn’t matter if he was in the right, when you tangled with a Teeg you ended up on the losing end, every time. Besides, he was on the clock, and he had a client to watch out for.

Speaking of, he glanced after Qualls anxiously, and had to run through the crowd to catch up with him again. It wouldn’t do to let a stupid coffee distract him, and lose his charge in the masses. The sublevel districts of New-Newyork were a rat’s nest of filth and decay, worse even than New Hongkong or New Paris.

When the Teeg had landed and made their devil’s deal with Earth’s surviving government, part of the exchange for saving mankind had been to free up as much arable land as possible – all to feed the additional Teeg mouths who would now be calling Earth their home. With the Skag defeated, mankind was herded into designated urban centers by the millions, creating mega cities, dense, fetid places where humans were stacked upon each other, in order to make room for their saviors, the new ruling class.

And although human birth rates in the new Teeg cities had drastically reduced over the following years, every square inch was occupied. This was especially true on the lower levels, where crowding from visiting outworlders made things worse. Trying to tail someone through Skag Town’s maze of mostly unmapped and unregulated side alleys and illegal vendor stalls and carts was enough of a challenge at the best of times, let alone in the constant grey drizzle and eddying stink.

Finally falling in step a few people back, Jensen kept a careful eye on Qualls' yellow slicker as he moved toward Skag Town’s main market. It was the heart of the district, where anything or anyone could be bought and sold, safely beyond the watchful eye of the Enforcers, who seemed by mutual consensus to have turned a blind eye to this part of the city.

The Enforcers were Earth's new global police force. Utterly ruthless and almost entirely Teeg, Jensen wasn’t convinced they were any real improvement over the Skags.

As the crowd grew thicker, and the noise level rose to match, Jensen had to work harder to keep his client safely in sight. He was surrounded by the constant flow and chatter of many dialects, spattered here and there with the gravely speech of a Skag, and the shriek and call of the fauxbirds from the vendor half a block down. Jensen’s attention drifted momentarily when he spotted his Teeg assailant, only a few paces ahead. He eyed the man bitterly, or more accurately "it," as the Teeg were capable of both bearing and fathering offspring. Though that wasn't strictly correct either, since "it" denoted a lack of gender, and the Teeg were apparently double-gendered.

Jensen rolled his eyes. Whatever its mating practices, this one looked male to him, the same as all the rest of the Teeg Jensen had ever seen in his life. Tall, broad-shouldered, with sharp features and bronze skin, his hair was shot through with the distinctive multi-colored streaks that seemed typical of its kind.

This one had white and silver streaks through its jet black hair, but Jensen had seen any number of color combinations in the outworlders.

As a child, Jensen had imagined Teeg hair color signified something special about each of them, some talent or disposition. Even now as a PI, he wasn’t sure if he could suss out the answer to that one, the Teeg being notoriously close-mouthed about everything to do with their race. Maybe it was simply the normal genetic party pack a Teeg was dealt, along with the ability to make Jensen, at six foot one, feel short.

It was odd, though, to see one this deep in the city's sublevels, especially one that wasn’t an armed Enforcer. Most of the Teeg Jensen had met were notoriously self-righteous, and would crinkle their leonine noses at anything as shady as the Skag Market. Their prides kept mostly to themselves, ruling New-Newyork from suites in the upper levels of Broadway and Central Park.

Strange, that thirty years after "The Salvation," mankind still knew so little about the long lived warrior race, except that their timing in coming to Earth had been suspiciously fortunate. Jensen’s lip curled in contempt.

The Teeg disappeared into the crowd about the same time Jensen realized he’d lost sight of Qualls, yet again. What was it about the scientist that turned Jensen’s every effort into something worthy of a bumbling rookie? Climbing onto a stack of crates, Jensen scanned the crowd, with no luck. Disgusted with himself, he dug into his bag for his tracker. He needed to be smarter about this.

With the tracker plugged into his comm, a green holomap of the city materialized in the air above the comm unit in Jensen’s hand, and a flashing orange dot indicated Qualls' locator beacon. Jensen blew out a breath. Gottcha, brainiac!

Jensen realized Qualls must have split off the main thoroughfare. Watching the blinking locator light’s position, he backtracked through the crowds. He found it, behind a clone-maker’s cart, a back laneway that had been blocked from view on his original pass through. He grimaced, edging past the cart as the vendor proudly held a fauxboa outstretched in his arms toward Jensen, who shuddered in passing. He'd never seen a real one, thank the gods. The faux version was creepy enough.

He raced down the alley, puddles splashing noisily beneath his boots, all pretext of covert observation going by the wayside in his fear for his client. A woman’s scream and the sound of things crashing to the ground up ahead propelled him forward.

He rounded the corner in time to see ‘his’ Teeg trading blows with a broad, heavily muscled Skag. The Skag’s blue green-scales glinted in the falling rain, oddly beautiful. Jensen’s Teeg threw the Skag up against the alley wall with a force that would have stunned or killed a human, but the Skag only shook it off. It launched itself back at the Teeg, razor-edged teeth shining white in the dark alley. Its spiny tail whipped around, wrapping the two in a deadly embrace.

The pair continued to exchange blows, crashing and cursing at each other in Chinteeg, streetspeak, a mangled version of Chinese and Teegan. Jensen searched the alley, finally spotting Qualls and a woman huddled near a dumpster. Qualls was desperately trying to calm the hysterical woman. Jensen thumbed his comm to notify the Enforcers that a Teeg was being attacked on the lower levels, and give their location.

It didn’t bother him in the least using the Teeg as bait to get Enforcer help. This had spiraled far beyond his pay grade. And even with his white lie, the Enforcers still might not come to Skag Town. He pulled his Clougar from its shoulder holster and carefully skirted the battling outworlders. He crouched down beside Qualls and the woman. He’d already taken enough of a chance on losing his client once. He wasn’t going to risk getting Qualls killed in whatever ‘this’ was.

“Ackles?” the little scientist looked up at Jensen, a stunned look on his face, like he’d forgotten Jensen was even in his employ. “How did you get here, my friend?” He patted Jensen’s arm absently.

“Been trackin’ you, like you paid me to.” Jensen shook his head in disbelief at the scientist's placid calm. “Come on, I gotta get the two of you outta here before Mothra and Godzilla there notice we’re gone.” At Qualls' bemused expression, Jensen shrugged and rose to his feet.

“There, that way, I’ve commed the Enforcers, but we can’t wait around for them to show up, we've got to get somewhere safe.”

Jensen shoved Qualls ahead of him toward the mouth of the alley and half lifted the woman, pressing his hand over her mouth as she started to wail again. “Listen lady, scream all you want later, but for now we gotta stay quiet.”

A hissing snarl behind them proved Jensen was too late. He glanced back over his shoulder to find the Teeg sprawled bleeding in the corner as the Skag drew a pulse weapon from his belt, it’s long claws wrapped around the trigger. Jensen barely had time to shove the woman down and cry, “Down!” before it started shooting at them. Jensen leapt forward, grabbing at Qualls' raincoat to pull him to the ground.

Light flooded the alley, blinding him momentarily as Enforcer air cars swarmed overhead. A siren screamed. Then more bright flashes as freeze bombs dropped around them, throwing them all into stasis. The world shimmered around Jensen and things began to darken, a few more pulse shots rang out, and then silence.

: : :

_“Handsaboveyourhead, handsaboveyourhead, handsaboveyourhead”_

The irritating drone of an Enforcer droid hovering overhead was the first sound to greet him when he came to. His nose stung from the thousand conflicting stenches rising off wet concrete in the dank alley where he lay. A blurry flash of blue and glowing silver eyes darted in front of him, there was a sharp pain as something touched his forehead, and blackness swallowed him again.

He was seeing double and the alley was spinning around him when Jensen came to the second time. Groaning, his head in his hands, he glared at the Enforcer bot overhead, still repeating its recorded message. He shuffled up to his knees and leaned over to make sure the woman was okay, checking her pulse. She seemed to be breathing regularly, but was unconscious. A comm link squawked behind him, and Jensen's head whipped around, which he regretted instantly, as blinding pain spiked through his head at the sudden movement.

Squinting, he could make out the Skag lying dead in a pool of brilliant green blood, surrounded by armed Enforcers. More Enforcers were rappelling down ziplines from cruisers hovering overhead. Looking past them to the darkened corners of the alleyway, Jensen’s Teeg was nowhere in sight.

He turned back more slowly, holding his throbbing skull with one hand. He had to get to Qualls. His heart sank as he crawled closer to the man. The sick-inducing smell of burnt flesh stung his nose. The scientist lay sprawled facedown on the ground, and the scorch marks of a blaster marred the bright yellow of his raincoat. Qualls was dead.

: : :

The woman was Qualls' sister, Agatha, and she had no more idea what was going on than did Jensen. He still had to listen to her retell what she didn’t know a dozen times or more as they sat in one of the holding cells in detention, their wrists restrained in stasis cuffs. At least the Enforcers had given them each a blanket and some towels to dry off with, before shoving them into the holding cell.

The sharp antiseptic smell of the cell must be getting to him because Jensen’s head throbbed every time the woman opened her mouth. He groaned and rubbed his forehead as the story restarted, again. At least they weren’t in the common lockup. Jensen’s eye began to twitch at the mere thought of all that noise.

“…And he grabbed me on my way home from work.” Agatha sniffled dramatically and Jensen had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. After all, her brother was dead, he should be more patient. Looking at her now in the pale light of the cell, Jensen could see the family resemblance, the big nose and pale, watery blue eyes.

“I don’t know what it – the Skag – wanted. He called D.J. and threatened to kill me if he didn’t give it to him. D.J. told him he’d come right away. Neither of them ever said what ‘it’ was.”

Nodding sympathetically as the story loop continued, Jensen rubbed his knee and tried to tune Agatha out as he weighed the few new facts in the case. Well, what case, really? His client was dead, that kind of brought things to a sudden close. Agatha’s kidnapping certainly explained the abrupt change to Qualls' schedule, but not the why. Jensen shook his head sadly; if Qualls had been a bit more forthcoming, had let Jensen help, maybe his death could have been averted. Too late now, though.

“And you’re sure you have no idea what it might be? What D.J. was working on?” Jensen asked for what must have been the fifth time.

“No, none, D.J. was always very hush-hush about his projects. I think he had to be, non-disclosures and corporate funding and all, but I know he was very nervous about his latest discovery. He had nightmares. He used to call me in the middle of the night when he couldn’t sleep.” Agatha's bound hands plucked nervously at the blanket wrapped around her. “That’s not as bad as it sounds, by the way. I’m a nurse, I work night shift at Mercy Hospital down on Vine. But D.J. never called me at work, not unless he was really upset. Who would do this to my brother, Mr. Ackles? Who would want to kill D.J.?”

Jensen shook his head, he had no answers.

The door to the holding cell opened and two helmeted figures entered, a man, and a giant. Jensen and Agatha both rose, shedding their blankets.

“ PI Ackles, Healer Qualls, I’m Enforcer Williams, and this is my partner, Enforcer Padalecki. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”

Jensen nodded at Williams. He’d had some dealings with Enforcers in the past. Who in his line of work hadn’t? But to meet not one, but two human Enforcers in one day was a rare thing. Teeg equalization rules must finally have penetrated the ranks, for them to let lowly humans in. He wondered what these men had had to do to win their place on the force, how deeply they’d had to bow and scrape to make it onto the line. Resentment filled him at how far mankind had fallen since "The Salvation", it left a sour taste in his mouth.

Williams was an older black man, mid-sixties. Jensen had actually heard of him but never met him before. He was a straight shooter by all accounts, who’d always dealt fairly with people, or at least as fair as the normally arrogant Enforcers got. Like Jensen, Williams was well over six foot, though he looked small compared to his partner. Jensen looked up, and up, until he could look Padalecki in the face.

Under the visor hiding Padalecki’s eyes, Jensen could see he was caucasian, a little younger than Jensen himself, with golden tinged skin that spoke of privilege and actual time spent in the sun. Padalecki was broad shouldered, with chestnut hair that grew past the bottom of his black Enforcer helmet and brushed his collar.

Jensen felt an unaccustomed jolt as his green gaze traveled across Padalecki’s wide generous mouth. He licked his lips, arousal sparking over his skin. The Enforcer stared down at him, and Jensen could envision his eyes narrowing. He had the oddest desire to see what color the Enforcer’s eyes were. He was sure the man was staring at him through the dark lens of the visor that obscured the top half of his face and partially hid his reactions. Jensen’s cheeks reddened as a flush of pure lust tightened his chest.

He watched the man’s lips tighten briefly in surprise. The expression was replaced so smoothly by one of cool assessment that Jensen thought he might have imagined the rest.

“Sorry for the long wait. I’ll be taking you, Healer Qualls, to interview one, while Enforcer Padalecki interviews PI Ackles in interview two. Now, I assure you, this is just a cursory interview. You folks should be out of here in no time. ” Williams patted Agatha’s arm reassuringly. “Sorry for your loss, Ms. Qualls.”

Tearing his gaze away from the taller Enforcer, Jensen glanced skeptically at Williams. “If it’s so cursory, why have we been kept in stasis cuffs for the last two hours? We're the victims, here." He was tired, his leg hurt, and more than ever, he was missing that coffee the Teeg had knocked out of his hand.

Williams genial smile tightened. “It's a normal precaution, when a citizen of such international value has been killed. We don’t want to take any chances, but I can assure you, PI Ackles, we’ll do this by the book, and with your cooperation, you’ll be out of here as soon as possible. Now if you’ll kindly go with the Enforcer…” Williams nodded toward the giant detective.

Jensen glared up at the taller man, more angry at himself and his own unruly dick than anything. He should be pissed off he had to stay here another minute. Instead, he was looking forward to some extra time alone with the taller man.

Padalecki’s large hand wrapped around Jensen’s forearm and Jensen had to fight the urge to pull back as sudden heat licked up his arm. Damn, how hard had he hit his head when the freeze bombs went off? Not that trying to escape the man’s grasp would have been easy, with Padalecki a good five inches taller and forty pounds of muscle heavier than Jensen’s leaner frame. The Enforcer looked enough like a tightass, a by-the-book kind of guy. A charge of resisting an Enforcer might get him thirty days in an iso jail.

 

Jensen whistled as his gaze traveled up and down Padalecki’s long frame. “Frak, they must build ‘em big where you come from. You part Teeg or something? That might explain how you got on the force, huh? ” Jensen quipped, tipping his head at Williams.

Padalecki only tugged him forward, his lips thinning in anger as he nodded toward the door. Williams snorted and leaned in to Jensen conspiratorially, “Wouldn’t 'a pegged you for a lion chaser, Ackles. But I gotta disappoint you boy, my partner is one hundred percent ‘Grade A’ human, they just grow ‘em big out on the farm, don’t they Padalecki?”

Jensen could imagine the roll of his eyes under the visor, but the only visible reaction from Padalecki was a tightening of his generous mouth as the Enforcer snorted in disdain. Since when did Jensen notice an Enforcer’s lips?

“Move it, Ackles, the sooner we do this, the sooner you’re out of my hair. I got chores to do.” The Enforcer nodded his head, motioning Jensen forward.

Williams smirked as he squired Agatha out ahead of them. “Come on, darlin’. Let’s leave these two alone to get better acquainted.”

“Hey, hey, careful, Sasquatch. I bruise easy.” Jensen smirked. “Listen, can I at least get a frakin’ coffee before you start grilling me?”

The Enforcer honest to God growled as he pulled Jensen outside detention, down the hall and in through a silver-grey door with a large numeral two stamped into the metal. Jensen’s feet barely touched the ground as he was manhandled into the room. He had an odd, nervous flutter in his gut, but he’d be fraked if he’d let the Enforcer see it.

“Easy, easy, big fella, don’t want to get your knickers in a knot.” Jensen gave himself a mental kick. He’d already lost his client, he needed to stop goading the Enforcer and simply get through this. He wasn’t sure what it was about the man that had him acting up so bad. The idea of them confiscating his rover while he was in iso for his smart mouth was a sobering thought. He had to get his wisecracking under control.

The door slammed shut behind them, and the Enforcer spun Jensen around to face him, and pulled him close. Jensen’s breath hitched in surprise as he was drawn in tight to the Enforcers tall muscular body and every lean inch of muscle and bone rubbed against him.

The Enforcer leaned in, “A smart mouth like yours can get you into all kinds of trouble.” Padalecki’s words caused a soft stir of air over Jensen’s face, a sweet, musky scent invaded his senses. Jensen’s mouth gaped slightly, his brain slipping offline as the Enforcer pushed into his space. His cock was suddenly fattening in his jeans. Close as they were, even with the stasis cuffs stopping their bodies from pressing completely against each other, there was no way Padalecki couldn’t be aware of Jensen's response.

“It’s Jensen, and my friends say my mouth is my best feature.” He smirked cockily, hiding behind his street smart persona as he tried to fight the conflicting urges to either groan and die of humiliation, or slide closer into the man’s embrace.

He was saved from total mortification when the Enforcer shoved him down into a seat and released his hands from the stasis cuffs.

“You’re living in the past, PI Ackles. It’s a new day, and doors are opening for men and women that can put their hurt and their hate behind them. For our purposes, I think we should stay away from politics, and try to keep this on a professional level.” The Enforcer leaned in, his breath a soft chuff against Jensen’s ear. “We’re not going to have any problems are we?”

Jensen shook his head, and, faking a calm he didn’t feel, reached deep and produced a cocky smirk.

The Enforcer removed his helmet and quirked a brow as he stared at Jensen, clearly unimpressed. Jensen’s mind went blank.The man was stunning, and younger than Jensen had imagined, with high cut cheekbones and blue-green fox tilted eyes. His burnished chestnut hair, somewhat flattened by the helmet, now curled around his face.And all his attention was focused on Jensen.

Jensen swallowed tightly and nodded, unable to look away, even when he felt his cheeks flush red. Without batting an eyelash, the Enforcer turned on his heel and headed to the door. He looked back briefly before closing the door behind him. “Good. I’ll get you that coffee.”

: : :

With Padalecki safely out of the room, Jensen leaned down and beat his head gently against the interview table. _Stupid, stupid, stupid…._ Since when did he pop wood for a virtual stranger, and come on to him – a pushy Enforcer, no less?

He’d been acting weird ever since he came to in that alley. Maybe somehow the Skag had slipped him something, because this sure as hell wasn’t normal. And this Enforcer's behavior wasn’t exactly by the book, either.

: : :

By his third cup of coffee and the fifth time running through his story, Jensen was forced to admit a grudging respect for the Enforcer's thoroughness–the man was meticulous. Eventually though, it seemed even Padalecki had heard his story enough times and was moving on to discuss suspects. Jensen ran his hand over the back of his sweaty neck again, and huffed out a breath. The room was sweltering, Padalecki though appeared unaffected. Maybe Jensen was coming down with a fever or something, because this was crazy.

Once again, Jensen became aware of a most wonderful spicy scent in the room, wafting across the table. Inhaling deeply, he glanced suspiciously over at the Enforcer’s coffee cup. What was he drinking, that smelled so good? Whatever it was, that scent seemed to be going straight to Jensen’s groin. Under the table, he tried to adjust himself discreetly. The walls of the interview room started to close in on him, it was like being in a hot, horny hell. He squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.

“Ackles?...”

Jensen blinked, Padalecki was speaking again. “Huh?”

“And you have no leads as to who was threatening Qualls?”

Jensen struggled to keep his growing crankiness out of his voice. “I keep telling you, I got squat. There was nothing definitive on the video, or in the letters. If it wasn’t for Qualls' body language, I would have blown the case off as a crank, but something had him spooked. The guy was scared, and my gut was telling me it was serious. But I couldn’t get anything out of him, he was a vault.” Jensen shrugged, and rubbed at the long scar running the length of his face from eyebrow to jawline. He could sense the Enforcer’s eye’s tracking his movement, and Jensen had to resist the renewed urge to squirm.

“I threatened to quit, but he begged me not to. We compromised with me on surveillance. Even then, when the call threatening his sister came in, Qualls didn’t let me in on it, he just went. Maybe if security at his lab hadn’t been so tight, I could have monitored his office, kept better tabs on him, but I couldn’t get anything to work through their security net. There’s so much piracy going on in the bioengineering field, Qualls was taking no chances. The best I could do was stash a locator beacon on him.” Jensen wearily shook his head. “Even with that, I arrived too late.” Jensen ran his hands through his hair in exasperation, his cheeks burned with exhaustion and embarrassment.

“So you didn’t witness the victim doing anything suspicious, or illegal?” Padalecki watched him, making careful notes in his data pad. Jensen tried to casually glace over but couldn’t make out the Enforcer’s scrawl. He wished he knew what he was writing. It could be his damn grocery list, for all Jensen knew.

“I don’t know who would want to kill him, or why. He seemed like a decent guy, he didn’t gamble or play around. He was a total nerd, only interested in his work. All he would tell me was, he was a geneticist working in the bioengineering field on a variety of projects.

“Is this the way you usually conduct your investigations PI Ackles?”

Jensen’s spine stiffened at the implied criticism in the Enforcer’s voice, “No. Not normal at all. But he seemed truly scared, and I didn’t feel I could walk away.”

“And what about this Skag, or the Teeg you saw fighting, had you ever seen either of them before?”

“No, I’d never seen either of them before today. The Teeg I’d noticed in the crowd in Skag Town, but I didn’t realize he was tailing Qualls. I only remember thinking how odd it was to see one of their kind in the lower levels.”

“Did either of them say anything to you before the Enforcers arrived?”

“No, they were too busy beating the snot out of each other. I didn’t think the Teeg was even alive, he was lying on the ground last time I saw him, but then when I woke up, he was gone.”

“And you said he was about seven foot nine, and had black hair with blue and silver streaks?”

“Yeah, that’s him. Silver and blue eyes, too, with those slitted cat pupils of theirs, but I guess the hair and eyes always match.” Jensen glanced up to find the Enforcer's gold-green eyes watching him intently.

Growing impatient by the lack of leads, Padalecki pushed a lock of his chestnut brown hair behind his ear. “And nothing else? It’s uncommon for those two races to mingle.”

“You’re telling me.” Jensen’s knee began to judder up and down, with nerves and exhaustion. They’d been at this for hours. He was overcaffeinated, sweaty, sore from his abrupt meeting with the alley pavement, wrung out with tension and fatigue, and maybe a little sick. He wanted to go home.

Padalecki pushed his chair back and stood, regarding him with an inscrutable expression, then slung his data pad closed with a snap. Jensen jerked, straightening unconsciously in his chair.

“Well, I think that’s all for now, PI Ackles. Thank you for your help. We’ll look into it, but I have to say I’m not optimistic. For now, please don’t leave the city without letting us know.”

Jensen snorted and stood, as if a human had been allowed to leave the city unescorted in the last thirty years? He knew the routine though, and appreciated the Enforcer’s honesty. It was refreshing. Everyone was fully aware that if the case wasn’t solved in the next forty-eight hours, it probably wouldn’t be solved. Even Enforcers faced time pressures and resource limitations. Human Enforcers on a case meant it was even lower priority than usual.

He felt bad about Qualls. Nothing about this had gone right, from the jump. He scrubbed his hand over his face again. Right now, all he wanted was to jump in the shower and then grab about twelve uninterrupted hours of sack time, and then haul himself out of bed and try to figure out how he was going to pay his rent this month.

For a big man, Padalecki moved surprisingly quietly, and was suddenly next to him, looming over him. Resisting the urge to step back, Jensen looked up questioningly.

“Here’s my card, if you remember anything else. And maybe even if you don’t.” Padalecki said simply, a first, faint smile tipping up the corners of his lips. His large hand held something out to Jensen.

Jensen blinked in surprise as he searched the Enforcer’s face to be sure he’d heard him correctly, but the man's expression was perfectly neutral. Jensen accepted the small paper rectangle, their fingers touching briefly as he took it from the Enforcer’s hands. Once again, a jolt of lust struck through Jensen at the slight touch.

He held the card up to read it, squinting to focus, licking his lips to stall for time to steady his skittering emotions, so he could concentrate on what was printed there. It said simply, Jared Padalecki, Enforcer. That was it. Nothing else. Jensen looked at the Enforcer, his eyebrows raised.

Padalecki’s tough exterior cracked for a brief moment and with an unexpected flash of dimples, he explained, “It may look like an old fashioned data card but hold it in front of your comm, and it will download all my contact info.”

“Oh,” Jensen turned the card in his hand, his thumb rubbing over the laid finish of the paper, a decadent expense in an age of plastics and ported data, and surprisingly quaint. He looked up, charmed and slightly bemused. The imposing Enforcer actually ducked his head, mumbling something about liking the tactile feel of the paper as he ushered him out of Interview and back into the main station. It made him seem so much more human… with a lopsided smile, Jensen allowed himself to daydream for a few moments as he stared at the man’s departing back. Want coiled in his belly for the first time in years, and Jensen knew what that led to…

disappointment.

 

: : : ^^ Comments always appreciated 

 


	2. Worlds Collide

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](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/59261.html)

: : :

It was pushing midnight by the time Jensen got home to his apartment on the fringe of what used to be called Alphabet City in old Pre-Teeg New York. Another Enforcer dropped him off at the front of his building after Padalecki checked and found his rover had indeed been towed.

 

He sighed as he entered the lobby of his building, the hall light barely flickering to life. Any more demerits and he’d lose his license. He’d call impound in the morning and see what they could do. It was possible he could pull a few strings, he still had a few contacts there. He and Mark Sheppard went way back. Maybe he could lean on the better angels of Mark's nature to give him a break this time. He _had_ been waylaid by a murder, after all. Extenuating circumstances really did apply.

Stepping over the old homeless woman the super let sleep in the lobby, Jensen pressed the call button for the elevator. He dug in his pockets and left the old woman a few carefully flattened bills. Entirely illegal, the old US dollar system was the underground currency for most humans now. Untraceable by the Teeg, it was enough to get her a good breakfast or a pint of synthahol. Jensen wasn't going to judge another person's method of coping–or escaping, as long as it didn't hurt anybody else.

Jensen had been proud of himself when he’d first landed this apartment. It was relatively safe and, if you ignored the vague smell of piss and vomit that clung to the lobby and elevators, mostly clean. It had taken him a long time to land his first job in a small PI firm, running errands. He’d saved and taken night courses, and had gradually clawed his way up the rungs of the agency to get himself certified as an official PI He had celebrated by getting out of the government sponsored econo-flats. It had been a lot of hard work, but it had been worth it.

Growing up, he had originally wanted a career in law enforcement, but with only a few spots open for human Enforcers, and with his bum leg, that dream had quickly died. And although few wanted or could afford the services of a human PI, Jensen had been drawn to the profession, maybe because justice had been so badly denied to him. Something about the righteousness and closure of solving a case, of finding the bad guy and seeing justice done, appealed to Jensen on a basic level.

Then, about five years back, he’d decided to go out on his own. Maybe things might have been easier if he’d had a rich benefactor or two, or maybe a Teeg customer, though as far as Jensen heard, the outworlders never stooped to ask a human for help. He’d worked hard and had some small successes, and gained a bit of a reputation as a closer. That wasn't saying he didn’t still have to hustle to find enough paying clients, but he wasn’t one paycheck away from the tenements anymore.

Riding up the sixty-four floors to his level, Jensen pressed his forehead against the cool translucent plexicrete panels. He listened to the patter the rain made on them and his mind wandered as the elevator sped upward. He was exhausted, but he kept rehashing the day's odd turn of events. If he was being completely honest, a stray thought or two about the tall Enforcer may also have crossed his mind.

Absently, he turned Padalecki’s — Jared’s — card over and over in his hand as he considered the events of the day. What had the Skag been after? And what would bring a Skag, the scum of the universe, and a Teeg together? The animosity between the two races was legendary, and they had few interests in common. After the Skag kidnapped Agatha, was the Teeg actually trying to rescue her? Or was it simply a case of the Teeg being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

It angered Jensen that the Skag had been allowed back on Earth. It wasn’t as if the Skag were the merest bit repentant for what they had done. It didn’t really surprise Jensen that the small number of Skag that had bribed their way back to Earth caused more trouble than any of the other races on the planet, even all of them, combined.

Much like the Teeg, he wished the whole pack of outworlders had never heard of his home planet. Of course, those wheels had been set in motion long before Jensen had even been born. NASA and other agencies around the world had been experimenting with space travel and unmanned probes. It had only been a matter of time before one of those probes caught the attention of some spacefaring race, and of course, it had to be found by one of the more unsavory ones.

The Skag had descended on Earth like locusts at a banquet, Skag ships pounded the major cities of the planet back to the stone age. Mankind’s attempts at rebellion against that superior technology had proven pitiful, at best. Earth’s government had been hours from toppling, the Skag a hair's breadth from achieving their goal of enslaving the populace and picking Earth’s resources clean.

It had only been thanks to the timely arrival of the Teeg that Earth had been saved. One minute humanity was teetering on the edge of extinction, and then the Teeg were there, offering their protection.

All ten billion of them.

Earth’s leaders had quickly agreed to the Teeg’s terms to share the planet. With no other options on the horizon, the Teeg were officially granted citizenship. And true to their word, the Skag had been driven off. But the Teeg’s idea of sharing Earth had turned out to be quite different than mankind had imagined.

Jensen tipped his head back and gazed out through the elevator’s scratched and scuffled panels. If he looked past the air cars and ad blimps, and the haze of pollution perennially covering New-Newyork, he could still see several Teeg warships hovering sentinel-like over the city: a constant reminder to mankind of who ran things now.

As the elevator doors slid open, Jensen pocketed the Enforcer’s card in his greatcoat. It was like walking into another world, the quiet of the elevator in stark contrast to the wailing music, noise and light from the ad blimps that filled the night. The mega city was never quiet, never still. Colors flashed in the night sky and reflected in the puddles collected on the floor of the open sided walkway. Air cars sped past, belching black smoke and stink, and horns blared. Guided only by the city lights and more than weary, Jensen trailed his fingers along the wall as he limped down the hallway. The nubbly texture of the rough stucco grounded him.

He reached the entryway to his apartment and started to thumb his passlock, when the door swung open on its own. In the dim light, Jensen could see the shattered lock. He quickly stepped back from the door and sucked in a breath, pulling his gun. Although break-ins did occasionally happen in the building, Jensen's gut told him this was somehow related to the case.

His Clougar at ready, he reached out and gently pushed the front door open, snatching his hand back as soon as it started to swing. Hearing nothing, he stepped away from the wall to stand in the door frame, his weapon raised. His gaze swept the front room of the apartment, but he could see no movement.

The place was a wreck, stuffing spilling from the ripped upholstery, furniture overturned, and data sheets scattered everywhere. Someone had definitely been looking for something. Easing inside, Jensen listened again for signs of life, but it was apparent the invaders were long gone.

He cursed as he slammed the apartment door shut behind him. The door bounced and stayed open a couple of inches, which only served to piss Jensen off more. He debated calling the Enforcers, but gave up almost instantly on that idea. He even briefly considered calling the superintendent of the building, and almost laughed out loud at the idea of the usually stoned Misha rushing up here so late in the night.

Nah, he’d make do and sleep with his Clougar under his pillow tonight, get the door fixed in the morning.

Threading his way past the senseless damage, he ducked his head into the bedroom. It looked like a hurricane had hit it. When he limped into the kitchen he was met with a similar disaster scene, his chill box broken open and food strewn carelessly across the floor. Jensen grimaced in distaste as he stepped over the spilled takeout and broken dishes.

There was one glimmer of hope when he checked behind the cupboard for his secret stash of bourbon, and found it intact. Wiping an unbroken glass off on his sleeve, he poured himself a couple of fingers. The burn as it went down his throat made tears prickle in the corners of his eyes. Pouring a refill, he moved into the living area and tossed his coat over a mostly undamaged favorite chair.

“Seriously?” He gazed around the room and sighed, and then he did the only thing to be done in a situation like this. He started to clean up.

 

Surprisingly, the coffee maker had remained untouched, almost as if some kindly god had taken pity on him, had known Jensen would need his java fix after the night's events. Knowing he needed more help than the bourbon would provide, he set a pot to brew and grabbed a cleanwand to swab up the worst of the mess.

An hour and three cups of coffee later, Jensen had cleaned up most of the loose debris, and he sank wearily onto the edge of his shredded mattress. He had picked up his family photos, dumped uncaringly on the floor from the box he kept in his nightstand, the last remnants of his parents and baby sister. One by one, he carefully set each of them back in place, a soft, regretful smile on his lips as he remembered happier times. There was the one of him with his dad, sitting on the front porch the summer before they were forced to move.

_“Fly, Dada! Wanna fly like a J-bird.” Little three year old Jensen tugged on his dada’s pants legs. His father had just finished his chores for the evening on the small farm the family ran. Jensen had been helping him feed the chickens and pigs. He remembered his father’s face had been in shadow, the still bright sun shining fiercely behind him. Tired eyes, as green as his own stared down at him. His dada rubbed the soft ginger bristle on his face and laughed, “You’re gonna be the death of this old man.” Smiling, his dada reached down and picked him up, “I’ll help you fly, little man. Come on up here.”_

_And large hands were lofting him up toward the sky, twirling him round and round and round. Jensen flung his arms out like an airplane, giggling as the blue sky and white puffy clouds whizzed by. He felt dizzy and light headed and supremely safe in Dada’s arms._

_He was still giggling when his father brought him down to cradle him against his broad chest as they walked toward the house. Fascinated, Jensen reached out and softly touched his father’s face, his chubby baby fingers feathered gently over the bristles of his father’s beard as they glinted in the sun. He leaned in and kissed his dada’s cheek. “You made me fly, Dada, like a bird.”_

_“Just like a bird, baby boy, my little J.” His father gave him a wet messy raspberry on the cheek and Jensen remembered he’d squirmed and giggled with glee._

 

Jensen stared down at his little box of mementos. Not much left to show of the three people who had loved him best in this world. Ruthlessly, he shoved down the melancholy those memories always evoked. He’d seen too many people waste their lives living in the past, he needed to keep moving forward. Gently, he closed the lid on the little photo box and set it back in its drawer, sending up a small prayer as he did so. Jensen could only hope they were in a better place.

With his bedding shredded, Jensen pulled his coat back on, set to curl up in it to sleep, for whatever remained of the night. Stretched out on his back and staring at the dull concrete ceiling, his mind went instantly to the young Enforcer he'd spent so much time with today. His hand reached automatically inside his pocket, his thumb rubbing talisman-like over the oddly charming card. Thoughts of the man filled him with a warm hum of arousal. He was still a little in shock at his reaction to the man, but hey, life was short. Maybe he should call the Enforcer to discuss his thoughts on the case? Padalecki had suggested Jensen could call him. Maybe he'd had the same reaction to Jensen.

Jensen snorted and wrapped his coat around him tighter. Who was he kidding? A guy like that, obviously used to being in authority, didn’t hook up with a broken down gimp like him. He should tear the card up. There was no need to fool himself, Padalecki was way above Jensen’s pay grade.

He started to pull the card from his pocket to tear it up, but then he felt something else. He left the card and pulled out the second item—a datastick. It didn't belong to Jensen, so whose was it?

Curious, Jensen grabbed his comm and tabbed the data stick over it. It was from Qualls. Jensen opened the main directory file and his eyes widened as he began to read.

: : :

Jensen sat on the side of his bed contemplating the datastick. His head was pounding, and he rubbed the nape of his neck absently. It wasn’t often that Jensen was unsure, or indecisive. A PI’s life was based on quick action and following your gut, but right now Jensen wasn’t sure what he should do.

His normal first instinct wasn’t to call for help, certainly not to the mostly Teeg-filled Enforcer ranks. Caught between mortification at how he’d acted in interview, guilt, and a gut feeling that this was the right thing to do, he kept circling back to Padalecki’s name. Somehow, calling Padalecki felt like the only choice in this instance. A human, and one that, in spite of everything, he strangely trusted, made the decision seem right.

He swiped Padalecki’s card over his comm, transferring Padalecki’s info to his unit, and then thumbed the call button. He cringed at the thought of what hour it must be as the call went through, but shrugged as he shoved the card carefully back into his coat pocket. He was sure the Enforcer had been called at worse times in the dead of night.

The comm only beeped twice before a deep voice answered, “Padalecki here.”

“You said to let you know if I had something. Well I think I have something."

“Be right there.” The Enforcer didn’t even ask who or where.

: : :

Jensen was on his fifth shot of bourbon for the evening, or was it morning now? He was seriously considering a sixth by the time Padalecki showed. He was also beginning to question the wisdom of calling the man.

The responsibility of it all made his head hurt. Tossing back his shot, Jensen considered what he’d found. It was the next best thing to liquid Plutonium. Nothing good would result from coming in contact with it, and nothing would escape unscathed. He had seriously considered calling the Enforcer back, telling him he’d been wrong, and to stay home. A smarter man might have simply crushed the datastick under his heel and called it a night. Somehow though, he knew Padalecki wouldn’t believe him if he did that. And truthfully, he couldn’t let this go and pretend he'd never found it. It was too important.

A perfunctory knock on the damaged door caused it to swing open. The Enforcer stood there, an inscrutable look on his face. “Enforcer Padalecki here.” Two android police units loomed behind him.

“Yeah, come on in,” Standing at the door to the kitchen, Jensen waved, beckoning Padalecki to enter. “There's not much keeping you out at this point, anyway. But your friends stay outside.” Jensen pointed a finger and glared at the police drones. Poor programming and low budgets had meant that most humans' only interaction with the police was through the drones, seven and a half feet of titanium alloy and sketchy, inadequate programs. Only high profile cases or ones involving Teeg warranted live Enforcers. For most of his life Jensen had been forced to deal with the logic-driven units, completely devoid of compassion or common sense. It felt good for once to have the power to keep the tin cans at the curb.

The big Enforcer ducked his head, removing his helmet as he stepped into Jensen’s apartment, gold green eyes taking in everything, before easing the shattered door carefully closed.

“I take it you didn’t leave the place this way?” Padalecki swung back to Jensen, who slouched against the wall dividing the kitchen from the living room.

“Nah, I’m normally a slob; but it’s not the maid’s day off I brought you here to discuss. First things first, though, do you have a dampening field? This is kind of for your ears only.”

Padalecki obligingly reached down and touched a small black remote attached to his belt. There was an odd shimmer in a ten-foot radius around them, and Jensen huffed out a breath in relief.

“I’m guessing now you didn’t get me here for a booty call.” Padalecki’s voice had a teasing tone to it.

Jensen barked out a nervous laugh, “No, sorry, man. Not that I didn’t consider it, but this is something else. Normally, I don’t go all conspiracy theory on a case, but what I found is a lot bigger than either of us.”

His face cast in shadow, Padalecki nodded. Unspeaking, he watched Jensen carefully from hooded eyes, and waited for him to continue.

Jensen rubbed at his chin before he reached in his pocket and pulled out the data stick. “I found this in my coat when I got home. It’s not mine, and from what’s on it, I think Qualls slipped it in there before he died. And, I think it’s worth a lot more than my new housecleaning bill. I wanted you to take a look. It’s encoded with a fractal degenerative algorithm. The data will only stay on your comm for half an hour or so before it breaks down, and will not copy, print, or send to any other device.”

Brow furrowed, the Enforcer crossed the room, pushing into Jensen’s personal space. Jensen shifted his weight off his bad leg and squirmed uncomfortably as the Enforcer’s scent surrounded him. He set down his empty glass.

“I never knew something like that was even possible, and I sure don't know how he did it, but the information only seems to be stable on the data stick.”

Jensen waved the stick over the Enforcer’s comm. Padalecki’s eyes narrowed. Hawk-like, he watched the information download, missing nothing. Jensen stood beside him, peering over his arm as the Enforcer thumbed through the masses of data once it was copied.

Jensen’s voice may have been a little slurred as he explained, “I’m no geneticist, but what I can make out sounds to me like a motive, in certain circles, for kidnap and murder.” Boxed in and restless, Jensen shifted past Padalecki’s bulk into the open area of the living room and began to pace back and forth. After the overly long day, his leg was killing him, and he rubbed at it unconsciously. Padalecki’s eyes tracked the movement.

“I believe you’re correct, PI Ackles. If this fell into the wrong hands, it could very possibly mean the extinction of the Teeg race.” Padalecki was quiet, running a hand through his hair, the first real sign of agitation in the man.

“It’s Jensen. If we’re going to talk about possible extinction of a species we should be on a first name basis, yeah? And if, by the wrong hands, you mean the Skag? Hell yeah! Sort of helps explain the little set-to I witnessed in the Market, now doesn’t it?” Jensen continued to rub his leg. “Drink? I sure as hell need another one.” Jensen arched a brow at the Enforcer and limped back to the kitchen without waiting for an answer.

 

When Jensen turned with the two drinks in his hands he almost walked into a wall of Enforcer, not realizing Padalecki had followed him, and now filled the small kitchen to overflowing. Faced with the man’s broad chest, Jensen jerked back in surprise. Jared’s hands snaked out instantly, catching Jensen by the wrists, steadying him and the drinks.

A warm flush flowed up each of Jensen’s arms as he wobbled on his feet. Padalecki held him steady, thumbs rubbing soothingly over the pulse points on his wrists.

“Maybe you’ve had enough.” The Enforcer’s voice was disarmingly gentle. The accompanying hum of interest from the man made Jensen’s eyes close to emerald slits, and Jensen pushed back the immediate impulse to pull away. His head fell back, as desire pooled in his gut.

God, what was this man doing to him? The ridiculously spicy sweet scent of gummy bears, and cinnamon, and smoothly oiled leather filled the room, and Jensen realized it was Jared he could smell. Jensen’s cock twitched with interest and a flush spread across his chest and cheeks. He could see himself developing a serious Pavlovian response to sugar at this rate.

“I think I should take these,” Jared murmured as he gently pried the drinks from Jensen’s hands and set them on the counter. Jensen stood there torn between fight or flight as the larger man crowded up against him.

Inexplicably, the Enforcer leaned forward, his lips brushing across Jensen's as his hands reached up to stroke the scar along his face.

Jensen flinched back, his head bouncing off the cupboard, and his answering intake of breath brought a sad half smile to Jared’s face.

“Easy now, easy. Don’t want you to brain yourself. I’ve been dying to do that since I met you,” Jared murmured as he leaned in. He used a finger to gently connect the dots fanning across the bridge of Jensen’s nose. “Freckles…” Jared breathed out in awed wonder and Jensen reddened. He’d always hated his freckles, thought they made him look too girlish and young. Jared captured Jensen’s mouth again, scattering all thoughts of freckles away as he licked inside. Jared smiled against his lips.

Possessed of a mind of their own, Jensen’s hands reached up and combed restlessly through the soft silk of Jared’s hair as the Enforcer started to nibble on his bottom lip. Jensen swallowed and opened his mouth, desperate for more. The taste of the man was irresistible, like fine wine, smooth and warm.

Desire in him burned brighter as Jared’s hands settled possessively on Jensen’s hips and the Enforcer reeled Jensen in closer.

Breathless, Jensen let himself sway against Jared’s body as he peppered kisses on Jensen’s overheated, freckled flesh. The new position left Jared’s hard cock pressed against his leg through the cloth of his pants. Jensen swiveled his hips teasingly against the Enforcer’s body, the friction delicious on his own fattening dick.

His actions backfired as hunger rocketed through him, and his head fell back, boneless. His lips parted, and Jared's tongue swept inside again, his hand in Jensen’s short, spiky hair keeping them anchored together. Jensen lost himself in the push-pull of their dueling tongues, and breathing in the musky-sweet scent of Jared. Want coiled in Jesnen’s belly. His eyelids fluttered closed, and Jensen moaned, baring his neck to Jared as he leaned limply against him in an alcohol fueled haze.

Jared snarled and pushed the two of them against the kitchen wall. He continued to kiss and bite along the line of his face and neck, his broad tongue laving over Jensen’s jagged scar.

Jensen tried to turn his head the other way, but Jared caught him by the chin and held him in place. Jared’s eyes were dark with desire. “So beautiful.” He pressed his leg in tight between Jensen’s legs, holding him in place but also making it easier for Jensen rut up against him. “That’s right baby, just like that.” Jared’s voice was a rough purr in his ear.

Jared’s tongue plunged into Jensen’s mouth thrusting deeply in an odd counterpoint to Jensen’s wildly rocking hips. Dimly, Jensen realized that he was about to come in his pants like a teenager, with the Enforcer watching, directing him, but Jensen didn’t have the strength left to care. Heat licked over his skin at the touch of Jared’s hands on his body, and he luxuriated in the rub of the grainy stubble on his face against Jared’s.

Jared released his lips long enough to lean over and whisper in his ear, “Come for me, Green Eyes.”

Desire ripped through him, and Jensen's head fell back against the wall, stuttering a wordless cry as his vision whited out. Jensen’s hips bucked and jerked erratically as he came. Jared hummed in satisfaction rolling his hips up against Jensen’s with a groan as he kissed the freckles on Jensen’s face. “So good. So good for me. Came for me so beautifully.” Jared swallowed any more words from either of them, his mouth devouring Jensen's.

Jensen slowly floated back down to earth as the rush of adrenaline and the rest of the alcoholic buzz burned off. His eyes opened, focus distant and dazed from pleasure, and he swallowed repeatedly, mouth working as the reality of what he had done settled in. A humiliated flush crept across his cheeks. He gave Jared an apologetic look, mumbling, “Sorry, sorry, never meant...”

The spicy scent in the air sharpened and Jared rubbed his hand along Jensen’s jaw and leaned in, giving Jensen a gentle kiss, the pad of his thumb rubbing across Jensen’s plush lips. “No, you were perfect.”

Jensen huffed out a shaky laugh as reality bled back in. Scarred and broken as he was, there was no way that was possible. Embarrassed at his actions, messy, and flustered, all he wanted to do was get away, far away. Sensing his mixed feelings, the Enforcer’s hold tightened and Jensen felt strangely comforted by it. He hid his face in the the soft strands of the Enforcer’s hair and rubbed his cheek against the man’s jaw as Jared began to speak, low and dirty.

“You look so hot. You have no idea, do you? I want you. Have wanted you since I first laid eyes on you. Wanted to work you open nice and slow, then split you open on my cock and watch you come apart.”

Jensen’s head lolled back in surprise and he couldn’t seem to catch his breath as he stared up into the Enforcer’s lust blown pupils.

“But, I think maybe we should save this for later? When your place isn’t a total wreck and maybe we have a door that actually closes? Hmm?”

Jensen nodded jerkily. Jared leaned forward to touch his forehead against Jensen’s, groaning. “I think you’re going to be the death of me before we’re done.” His large hand reached up to trace again the scar that ran from eyebrow to jawline on the right side of Jensen’s face. He smiled sadly, turned on his heel, and left the kitchen.

 

After Jensen had cleaned himself up, he returned to the living room with two fresh cups of coffee in hand. His hands trembled slightly as he carried them, dreading his reception now that the heat of the moment had cooled. But the Enforcer acted like nothing was unusual when he took a cup from Jensen’s hand. It was as though a door had been closed on what had happened, and now they were both all business. Jared retraced his line of thought, gesturing at his comm as he accepted the coffee. “Did you know this was what Qualls was working on?”

A long arm reached out unexpectedly, and the back of Jared's hand touched Jensen’s forehead. Jensen’s arm came up automatically blocking his touch. The Enforcer waited until Jensen dropped his arm, acquiescing. “Just wanted to check on you, you’re quite flushed.” The Enforcer raised his hand the rest of the way, palm to his forehead, “You’re very warm. Maybe you should lie down?”

Jensen shook his head, the idea of lying down while Jared watched had his cock fattening again in his jeans. “I’m fine,” he hissed, leaning away from Jared’s touch. He sat on the sofa, hands clasped between his knees in an effort to hide his continued interest. Jared shrugged and dropped his hand, then stood and walked to the other side of the room.

Back to business again, Jared announced, “I need to run a scan of the apartment. Whoever broke in probably used a masking agent, but in case they got sloppy, we need to run the scan.”

At Jensen’s nod of approval, Jared took a sphere-shaped device out of his pocket, held it at shoulder height, and pressed a button on the bottom before he lofted it away from him, into the room. The sniffer floated forward and a soft blue beam began to sweep the room. It slowly moved through the apartment, eventually returning to scan first Jared and then Jensen, the blue beam sweeping up and down Jensen’s body, effectively ‘sniffing’ him.

Once its task was complete, the device floated back to land in Jared’s hand. After tapping a few buttons, the Enforcer pocketed the sniffer. “This will take a few minutes to run.” He focused his attention on Jensen again. "You’re sure Qualls never mentioned anything of use?”

Watching Jared move with surprisingly economical grace, Jensen had to scramble to catch up with the conversation. “No, like I said, the guy was a vault. I didn’t know anything more than what I told you back at the precinct.”

Hands clasped around opposite elbows to stop himself from fidgeting, all Jensen could think about was propping the door closed and taking the Enforcer back to his bedroom; of Jared stretching him out naked, and licking him all over.

Jensen rubbed his head as another surge of heat warmed the back of his neck and his cheeks. What the hell? He wasn’t that desperate for a fast fuck. Jensen sat up straighter, determined to act like the professional he was.

The sniffer beeped softly and Jared glanced down to tab through the results as they were transferred to his comm. The very latest in equipment, Jared’s ultra thin Enforcer comm curved around his inner forearm, and integrated seamlessly into his black uniform. The blue glow of the comm illuminated his face, emphasizing the vulpine cast of his elegant cheekbones and the sly tilt of his eyes. Jensen watched as his eyebrows drew together in concern.

“After ruling out our DNA, the sniffer has only been able to detect three other entities in this apartment in the last fourteen days, all of them male and all of them human. No sign of any recent extraterrestrial visitors, or humans, for that matter.”

Padalecki looked over at Jensen his eyes narrowing. “It’s probably not relevant to the case, but the humans? Friends?”

Jensen shook his head and tried not to look as guilty as he felt. “No,” Jensen shrugged, “Nothing permanent, and none of them likely to do anything like this, even if they had access to the technology.”

“Then there's a high probability that the intruder was an accomplice, either of our deceased Skag, or the missing Teeg, and was masking their scent. Though why the Teeg would find it necessary to break into your house is a bit of a mystery. Unless he knew about the datastick.”

“Makes sense, and if it was the future of your species at stake, maybe you’d be the first to toss any location that might have the information. We should check Qualls' lab, as well. I bet it’s been given the royal treatment too.”

Jared nodded and, ordering up a warrant, sent a unit over to check the lab.

Jensen continued, his mind warming to the topic. Anything to stop thinking about Jared’s long fingers as they danced over his comm.

“If Qualls was being blackmailed by the Skag to get his sister back, others would know about it – they always run in packs. And I can see the Teeg sending the threatening letters. Who among them wouldn’t want research like this to stop? I don’t know why he didn’t bring Qualls to the attention of the authorities.”

“Maybe he didn’t want any hint of the information getting out. Wanted to stop it on his own,” Jared mused. “Still not sure how either of them even found out, but there are lots of spies in the bioengineering field. Anyone that Qualls talked to might have leaked this. Regardless, I think we’re done here. I need to take you in.” Jared grabbed Jensen’s arm and started to forcibly steer him toward the door.

“Whoa, hold on! No way, Sasquatch.” Jensen shook off the Enforcer’s arm. “This is too big for normal operating procedure. I’m not sure if you’re getting the full weight of this, but I want to shoot this datastick into the sun and watch it burn.

"I’m not sure anyone is safe with this information, least of all in a busy station where evidence goes missing all the time. This datastick is not leaving me, and I’m not going on the record about anything. I don’t trust anybody. Everybody's corrupt, even the Enforcers, maybe even that partner of yours. How does an old man like that become one of the few human Enforcers I’ve ever seen, without being dirty?”

Jared snorted, a bemused smile on his face, “I was thinking more along the lines of protective custody. Taking you to a safehouse. We can take your new statement there and have a better chance of containment.” Jared’s grip on Jensen’s arms tightened. “I’m not sure you know this, but if it was the Teeg who did this, he must have taken your scent in the alley. That’s how he was able to track you here. It will be very difficult to hide you from him, now. And I agree totally, the precinct is not the place. If it was the Skag, as you say, they never travel alone. Unless you want to stay here on your own and have this fall into their hands, probably over your dead body; I’d say you’re in need of serious protection.” The Enforcer quirked an elegant eyebrow at Jensen. “Or maybe you want them to get the data?”

Jensen’s lips tightened, “Now, some would jump the chance to take out all the Teeg on our world, it would be almost as good as getting rid of the Skag. I’m no lover of the Teeg, or what they’ve done to our planet, but even they don’t deserve this.” Jensen shook his head and pulled back from the Enforcer’s hold. Padalecki allowed it.

“Good, glad to hear it. I have the authority to start protective custody right away, and get you to a safe house. On the way, I’ll call my boss, I’m sure he’ll want to talk with you as well. He’s one of the good guys. I’d trust him with my life. I have to warn you though. My boss, Morgan, is a Teeg.”

Jensen’s gut churned at the idea of more contact with the master race. “Of course, he would be, but I don’t care if he’s a fuzzy pink elephant in a tutu. You can contact Morgan, but I’m not talking about this to anyone over the comm. He’ll have to do it in person, and with you present.”

“How do you know you can trust me?” Jared asked softly.

Jensen leveled a steady look at Jared and, without blinking, said, “Let’s just say, I have a gut feeling.” "So, whatever we’re doing, we need to get this show on the road. My house got broken into and I didn't get any sleep last night, so I’m tired, and I'm hungry, and I'm getting crankier by the second.”

: : :

Getting the show on the road meant Jensen surrendering his comm, and worse, his Clougar to Jared. The Enforcer stored both in a shielded lock box in his cruiser before placing a hurried call to his boss as they left. Jensen had expected a more tepid response, with a human involved, but all it took was Padalecki’s emphatic request for his presence for Morgan to agree to meet them at the safe house, no questions asked.

Jensen hid his surprise, too exhausted to try to interpret Morgan’s motives right now. His gut was telling him anyone could be dirty, except his pretty Enforcer shadow. Though he believed he could trust Jared with his life, he didn’t want to take any more risks than he had to.

Jared pulled his hover cruiser into the underground parking garage of an abandoned building in the industrial area only ten minutes’ ride from Jensen’s building. Jensen’s eyebrows rose at the sight of the dilapidated building overlooking the water. Most of the windows were broken, and a few rats scurry away from the cruiser’s lights as Jared came to a stop. The only clue that there was more here than met the eye was the mechanism on the underground parking gate, which was far too new and shiny, and significantly stronger than you’d normally find in a building in this state.

Jensen snorted. Well he’d asked for it, hadn’t he, and how bad could it be? Somehow all the old vids had made him think a safe house would at least be a step up from a government tenement. It seemed he was wrong, again. Sighing, Jensen grabbed the bag he’d tossed a few things into before leaving, and followed Jared into what he what he expected would be his new short-term, until this mess got sorted out.

Things started going downhill immediately on entering in the building when, instead of going up, Jared led him down the sparsely lit stairs and through a series of winding basement corridors. Jensen shuddered at the thought of being entombed, maybe for weeks, down here in the dark and damp halls, smelling of harsh chemicals and refuse. He was limping heavily by the time they rounded yet another corner and Padalecki finally came to a stop, and palmed the passlock on a nondescript metal door. He ushered Jensen into a windowless room that was surprising dry and clean smelling. But what it made up in lack of stench, it lost in creature comforts, with nothing in the room but a steel bench bolted to the floor in the center, and another metal door on the opposite side.

“Wow, I’d heard budgets were tight, but I didn’t realize things were this bad for the Enforcers.” Jensen dropped his bag on the floor and looked around at… exactly nothing. The long bench looked hard and unforgiving. Even tired as he was, he was not sleeping on that thing.

“Strip.” Padalecki ordered. Jensen’s head reared up and his chin set at a mulish angle at the Enforcer’s tone. But as the Enforcer started to take off his own clothes, a wave of heat and arousal raced down his spine. In spite of his exhaustion every nerve in Jensen’s body was suddenly transformed into an erogenous zone as Jared’s wide honey toned chest came into view. Jensen blinked, in stunned fascination as more and more firm golden flesh was revealed. His mouth started to water, and it was a Herculean task to kickstart his brain enough to stop his mouth from gaping in appreciation and want..

Jensen quickly lowered his eyes. Jared was even more beautiful than he'd imagined. He had to bite back a groan when out of the corner of his eye he caught the glint of small gold nipple bars, on Jared’s broad chest. Jensen’s cock sprang to full attention. This was all suddenly going too incredibly fast.

He put his hands up and stumbled back a step. “Hey now, I know we said we would pick this up later, but this really wasn’t the scenario I'd been thinking of. The bench looks a bit on the hard side, man.” Jensen shook his head, contemplating the likelihood of Jared settling for a blowjob. Jensen’s knee creaked painfully at the thought.

Jared looked over at him and raised a brow in question.

Jensen stammered uncertainly, “Not that I’m not interested, but I’ve kinda got my mind on other things right now, like being hunted by a possible murderer.” Jensen knew he was babbling, worse yet, his cock was more than onboard with the idea of getting naked with Jared. Another reason not to get naked in front of the Enforcer, with the boner he had suddenly popped.

Jared tipped his head and looked at him, his expression closed as he patiently explained, “Decon, Jensen. We’ve got to go through decon, and then scent swapping. It will cloak both our scents, and help deter the Teeg from following us. We need to do this before we change cars and move on to our final destination, the safe house.”

“Oh…” Jensen mouth snapped shut with an audible click, and embarrassment burned his cheeks. He turned his head away and sought out the relative safety of the opposite side of the bench. He sat, suddenly weary, the adrenaline spike from the rollercoaster of emotions he’d put himself through leaving him as fast as it had rushed in. He rubbed his forehead, a headache coming on in full force. _Idiot_ “Um, how long does this take?”

“Once I press the button, two minutes.” Jared announced, then began to shed his pants. “You can leave your underwear on.”

Jensen could almost see the knowing smirk on the Enforcer’s face, but he resolutely stayed facing the other direction. Not fazed by Jensen’s silence, Jared continued, “The decon will work through that.”

“Right…that’s great. Thanks.” Jensen bit out each word as his face reddened further, and began to strip. He made sure to stay seated opposite the Enforcer, facing away to hide the erection still tenting his briefs.

: : :

Morgan was not what he expected, at all. Most – hell, all – of the Teeg Jensen had met so far in his life were dry, arrogant, self-entitled asses. Morgan, though, was cut from a different cloth. He might be an arrogant ass, but Jensen had to admit the Teeg had style.

Decon cycle complete, they had redressed, and once they were both safely clothed, tempting nipple bars safely out of sight, Jensen expelled a relieved breath. They exited the decon room through the second door, and waited in what looked to be the janitor’s room, complete with a small kitchenette along one wall, and lockers and cleaning equipment in the corner. Jared pulled out a chair at the scarred kitchen table in the middle of the room, and sat to check his comm.

Commless and ignoring him for the moment, Jensen searched the few cupboards for coffee. Finding none, he plunked down in a chair opposite Jared with a huff of annoyance. So much for glamorous witness protection.

 

Morgan entered the room, the hem of his rain cape swirling around his grey thigh-length boots. Broad shouldered, with the flowing mane of his kind, the Teeg had shoulder length grey hair shot through with gold and white. Even his beard was salt and pepper to match his distinguished mane. At over seven feet, he towered over Padalecki, but only by a few inches, making Jensen feel like a small child in comparison. Most curious about Morgan was that for the first time while in the presence of a Teeg, Jensen could sense actual waves of energy radiating off the man.

“So what’s going on, Padalecki? You made this sound pretty serious. I have lunch with councilman Chillba planned, and I’d like to make it, so this better be good and fast.”

“Sir, this is PI Ackles, and as I said on the comm, he has uncovered some disturbing information.” Jared sketched out the events leading up to the present, while Jensen occupied himself rooting around in the cupboards a second time. He was sure that with enough effort, he might find a can of coffee somewhere in the little kitchen.

Up to speed, Morgan paced the room in agitation as he considered their next steps. He stopped, distracted, nose twitching, and turned and walked to Jensen, and inhaled deeply, his leonine nostrils flaring wide. He straightened and regarded Jensen curiously before bending to move his head sinuously along the line of Jensen’s neck and shoulder in a surprisingly sensuous move. Jensen bit his bottom lip and held stock still, his eyes wide. He knew the Teeg was scenting him, a procedural thing, but did he have to make it look so damn hot while he did it?

Jensen had seen it done before, of course, but had never been deemed worthy of such attention himself, until now. It made Jensen curious, that even with the masking agent, the Teeg from the alley, like Morgan, might be able to track him anywhere on the planet, now. Track him down and kill him, if he wanted. Larger than men, stronger and longer lived, with higher IQ’s, was it any wonder Earth had fallen under their rule? Jensen stood straighter and stiffened his spine. He was tired and more than a little pissed at all the secrecy. Frak this defeatist shit, he’d be damned if he showed an interstellar squatter any fear. “What? Didn’t the scent masking take?” Jensen’s voice was a rough growl.

“Hmmm.” Morgan regarded Jensen as he straightened, his brows furrowed like he smelt something wrong. “No, just …curious.” Morgan glanced over at Jared, his gaze narrowing.

Jensen looked up sharply at the Teeg’s vague statement but Morgan didn’t expand on his comment, he simply gave Jensen a fleeting half smirk and moved on.

“So, Ackles, is it?” Morgan swung one of the cheap chrome dining set’s chairs around and straddled it, nodding for Jensen to take a seat. Limping over to the table, Jensen sagged into a chair. Damn his bum leg.

Morgan scratched his beard and his sparkling eyes took on a faraway look. When he raised his head again, he looked directly at Jensen, a curious expression on his face. “The same Ackles who led the New York riots of '07?” At Jensen’s nod, the Teeg raised an eyebrow and nodded. “I remember seeing the bulletins on your father. Brave man. Died for what he believed in. I wish we could have found a happier middle ground that day. Enforcer Jarek was a little too ‘brittle’ in his interpretation of our objectives, and your family, a lot of families, paid the price. I’m sorry for your loss.” Morgan compassion filled gaze stayed riveted on Jensen, and his silver and grey eyes cat’s eyes seemed to shift and glow.

Jensen blinked in surprise. No Teeg within his memory had ever even acknowledged his family’s death, let alone apologized for it. Long suppressed emotion swelled in his throat. His eyes stung and he had to look away from Morgan’s all seeing gaze. He dipped his head in acknowledgement. Sadness and rage that never seemed to soften with time threatened to well over, and he ruthlessly shoved it all down.

He didn’t have the energy right now to deal with this and he was too tired to hide the bitterness in his voice when he spoke. “Yeah, I know how sorry your kind was that day. So sorry you bundled a four year old off to an orphanage without a second thought. So sorry you never even let him say goodbye to his parents or sister, or explained to him what he had seen that day. Yeah, I know all about your kind's brand of sorry.”

His eyes burning, Jensen blinked and looked up, “Look, I didn’t come here to reminisce. I’m sure Padalecki here already mentioned this, but I’ve somehow managed to be given the secret of the century on this data stick. I may have no love for your kind. In fact I’d love to see you all dropped off onto an asteroid belt, somewhere you could never find your way back to Earth, but this is too big. I don’t want this to fall into the wrong hands.”

“So you believe this is real?” Morgan stood again, to prowl the room restlessly like a big predatory cat.

Jensen hesitated, biting his lip. Then with a nod, more to himself than Morgan he answered, “There’s no doubt in my mind that Qualls was brilliant enough to create something of this kind. Why he would he do something like this is another story. I didn’t think he was holding a grudge of any kind. As far as I could tell, his only flaw was being born human. That’s why he worked in practical obscurity. If he’d been born a Teeg, I’m sure he would have had the best of everything at his disposal. Instead, he worked in a dump and got threatening letters the local Enforcers refused to investigate.”

Morgan’s head reared up, and he stopped his pacing to stare at Jensen.

Jensen shook his head, a little disgusted at himself. Morgan had been nothing but good to him. Stick to the case, Ackles, he chided himself. Jared’s hand was suddenly there, covering his, squeezing gently. Calm seemed to flow from him and Jensen closed his eyes, and breathed deeply. As Jared’s sweet, musky scent cloaked him, the tension started to ease.

Jensen spared a quick, thankful glance at Jared before he rubbed a hand over his mouth, and tried again. “Look, I’m no geneticist, but whatever his reasons, from the notes he had accompanying the formulas, if Qualls was exploring a way to make the Teeg race sterile, it looked like he succeeded.” Jensen raked his hand through his short spikey hair and stared down at the scarred table. “If anyone could pull it off, he could.

“But honestly,” Jensen continued, “I just don’t buy it. Qualls didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who wanted to exterminate the Teeg. He was a little weird, sure, but mean? No way! There has to be another explanation for his research. I don’t trust anyone other than me to find out what. I need to investigate this, do my job. With me, there’s no family to go after, no one to get hurt because of what I might find. The same can’t be said for most people.” Jensen looked meaningfully at the Enforcer.

“It doesn’t have to go down that way, son.” Morgan laid his hand on Jensen’s shoulder, sincerity in his voice. “You’re not alone in this and you’re certainly not disposable. We can’t have you running around unprotected. Someone is after this information, they know it exists, and if they’ve already torn apart your apartment, you can bet that you are up next.” Jensen looked up at Morgan, his mouth opening to protest.

Morgan shut him down whatever protests had sprung to mind with a squeeze to Jensen’s shoulder, gauging the pressure carefully to encourage, not intimidate. “I do agree with you though, this can’t get out. As of now, this information is restricted to the three of us. Padalecki, I’ll send you encrypted access codes that will let you do any research you need on the Enforcer net without being tracked. And we need to better understand what you have here, Ackles. We need another geneticist we can trust. I have some contacts in my pride, there's a retired elder I could speak with.”

Jensen started to protest and Morgan held up a hand, “Leave it with me, for now.”

Morgan started pacing again. “I know you don’t have any cause to love or trust us, Ackles, we haven’t earned that, yet. But believe me when I say, my people are grateful for what you’re doing. And we intend to make things right. In the meantime, I want Padalecki to stick to you like glue. Use Williams for any outside legwork, but tell him the rest is need-to-know, and he doesn’t need to know – at least, not yet. I want you two to stay in the safe house for the next couple of days, until we can figure out how to safely move forward on this. I don’t want anyone else winding up dead.”

Morgan glanced down at his comm. “I’ve got to go. Councilman Chillba is waiting, and right now, you both look like you could use some shut-eye. Head to the safe house and await further instructions. We’ll figure this out. You read me?”

“Yes sir.” Padalecki nodded.

Jensen closed his eyes and prayed he wasn’t putting his trust in the wrong people.

 

: : : ^^ Comments always appreciated 

 


	3. Worlds Collide

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](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/58880.html)

: : :

“You’ll take this bedroom, it’s furthest from the door. If anyone comms, don’t answer it, leave it to me.” The Enforcer dropped Jensen’s bag onto the bed. The ominous creak at the lightweight impact was not comforting. Jensen’s eyebrows rose, imagining the sagging dip he’d be sleeping in. The room was certainly a step up from the decontamination room, but the bench might provide a better rest. The real safehouse turned out to be a Pre-Teeg walk-up near the water with enough grime on its windows to provide a whole defense mechanism on its own. The safehouse was located on the fringes of the human zone, and was strangely quiet, compared to nearer the heart of the city, where Jensen grew up. It was surrounded by a row of abandoned looking lower-rise apartments, circa the New York City era, before the Teeg’s arrival.

 

Typical of its age, the whole apartment had seen better days. Tiny pink flowers dotted the faded wallpaper in what once might have been a cheery pattern, but now proved depressing. The scent of damp and decay permeated the building, as if it was just another breath away from crumbling to dust beneath their feet. Jared pulled down the old fashioned roller blinds on the windows, throwing the room into darkness.

Jared strode back to where Jensen slouched against the door jamb, and leaned in close. Jensen thought for a minute he was going to kiss him again, and his chest tightened at the thought. But the moment passed.

“You hear me?” Padalecki face loomed suddenly closer, his forehead wrinkled in concern. Dazedly, Jensen wondered how many times he’d repeated himself. Jared seemed a second away from shaking him.

Jensen nodded wearily, he must be more exhausted than he thought, to have zoned out so thoroughly. He resisted the urge to step back. No one intimidated him. “Yeah, I got you, standard SOP.” His stomach growled, but he didn’t think he had the energy to eat. He shouldered past the Enforcer and limped into the room assigned to him.

Jared grabbed Jensen’s bicep as he brushed past, forcing Jensen to glance back at him. Jared rubbed his thumb over the sensitive skin of Jensen’s inner arm, his face etched with concern. “Get some sack time, I’ll call for a pizza and wake you when it arrives.”

Jensen thought about it a minute, about playing tough and telling Jared to stuff it, but the truth was, he hadn’t eaten all day. “Yeah, that would be good.” He admitted, grudgingly. “I’m starving,, but I’m crashin’ hard here. I really need to get off my feet for a while.”

Padalecki nodded, his gaze darting to Jensen’s bad leg. “Yeah I can see that. Must be a bitch on stakeouts.”

Jensen bristled at the pity in Jared’s voice, “I do okay.”

The Enforcer ran his hand through his hair in exasperation and mumbled as he backed out of the room. “Yeah, I’m sure you do, man. No offense. ‘M gonna go see if I can rustle up some pain meds.”

 

Jensen lay on the bed, still fully clothed, as if he hadn’t made up his mind if he was coming or going, and stared at the ceiling. The pain in his leg had ratcheted down to a dull throb, now that his weight was off it. Maybe also, in some small part, due to the couple of pain pills Padalecki had thrust under his nose, along with a glass of water. He threw his arm over his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep. He was so damn tired, but sleep stubbornly eluded him.

Like a hamster in its wheel, his thoughts kept circling about the Enforcer, the cat-like tilt of his gold-green eyes, the large graceful fingers as they passed him the pills. He couldn’t understand why the man had made such an impression on him. Sure, the Enforcer had made it clear he was interested in a little fun, but that didn’t mean they were going to ride off into the sunset together. He’d always been happy with his one night stands. With no strings attached, it was hard to get hurt, and that was a good thing, wasn’t it?

So why, then, was he lying here awake, unable to get the man out of his head? Why did he have this inexplicable sudden yearning for something more? He didn’t even really know the Enforcer. Hell, for all Jensen knew, he maybe had a wife and kids back home, waiting for him. Jensen made a mental note, next time he saw Jared, to check for a ring. For a detective, he was doing a piss poor job of scoping out Padalecki.

Sighing, he punched his pillow and tried to think about something other than mile long legs and flashing dimples. The case, what new developments had there been about the case? Morgan came instantly to mind. Who would suspect the Teeg even knew about his father? And the riots of ’07 – Jensen had never even known his father and mother were involved in that. Of course, he had been only a small child at the time.

Leg aching, he attempted to find a more comfortable position, but sighed in exasperation as the hollowed out middle of the mattress kept pulling him back to center.

His family – they had been so happy once. That all ended, thanks to the Teeg, and Jensen had never known why. Morgan’s words echoed in his head as he stared at the tiny pink flowers on the wall, and his breathing slowed.

 

_More people had come again that day, a lot of them. More mad faces and angry words. It made Jensen’s ears hurt, so he had scooped up his hoverboard and sneaked out to the hall. His chubby legs pumped furiously, and he held onto the handlebars like his dada had showed him and coasted, wobble free._

_A wide smile covered his face as he flew back and forth, again and again straight and true. Almost as good as when his dada made his little J fly. Laughter bubbled up inside him and Jensen felt happy, truly happy for the first time in forever._

_Jensen missed their old place with its green fields and wide open skies but Dada had said that he and Maddy and Mama and Dada had to move, gove'nment said so. So now he was surrounded by grey halls that smelled funny, and Maddy’s sickly cries, and the sad, strained faces of his parents._

_Noise was inescapable in this place, echoing in the halls: music, cries, screams that woke Jensen in the middle of the night. Some of those angry voices were his own mama and dada as his parents argued., They never used to argue before they came here._

_Jensen hated it here, he didn't like all the noise. He didn't like it here, where the sun never shone anymore, through the thick layer of clouds, and everyone was sad._

_A wide smile covered his face as he flew back and forth, again and again straight and true. Almost as good as when his dada made his little J fly. Laughter bubbled up inside him and Jensen felt happy, truly happy for the first time in forever._

_His smile was snatched away as three of_ them _shouldered their way onto the floor, filling the end of the hall, the sharp scent of something sour lingering over them. Startled, Jensen let his scooter clatter to the floor. Some instinct to flee had Jensen grabbing it up, and he dragged it with him to a small recess by one of the apartment doors. He crouched there, hiding behind the board of his scooter as the_ they _made their way closer. Somehow, Jensen knew these men were going to his house, where his parents were meeting with the others._

_He wanted to run and tell his dada the bad men were coming, but Jensen was afraid to move. He watched, frozen with terror, as they kept coming closer. The leader looked like a lion his dada had showed him in a picture book, once. Wild golden hair with red and orange streaks, like it was on fire. Behind him were two other men with jet black hair, with various colors twined through their shaggy locks._

_Desperately, Jensen closed his eyes. He held his breath and made himself small as he could, hoping they would pass by._

_He almost cried when the fiery man stopped and crouched down in front of him, blotting out the dim light from the hall windows. Jensen couldn’t help the small whimper that slipped out._

_“A cub. On watch probably.” The man grabbed Jensen by the scruff of the neck and pulled him into the air. Jensen screamed, his hands pulling uselessly at the fiery man’s fingers._

_“No! Don’t you hurt my mama and dada!” Jensen cried as he kicked out. His small limbs pinwheeled furiously but they couldn’t even touch the man._

_“Ha, see, they train them young to fight. It’s all they’re good for, fighting and fucking. No wonder we needed to save them.”_

_Jensen glared up. The lion man’s red-gold eyes seemed to glow with an evil light all their own. He looked down at Jensen and sneered. “Learn from this, little cub, or next we’ll come for you.”_

_“Jarek, we need to move.” One of the other Teeg, a younger man with black hair streaked with blue and red advised._

_The Teeg snarled and tossed Jensen aside. His small body flew through the air like a rag doll, hurtling toward the window covered side of the hallway. His head and shoulders hit the glass with a sickening crunch. Glass shattered and there was white hot pain as shards dug into Jensen’s face and chest. His knee slammed into the concrete half wall below, taking the brunt of the impact. Things snapped, and Jensen cried out as pain blazed through him, and then everything went black._

_The next thing Jensen knew, he was lying on the floor in a puddle of blood and glass, crying. His face was wet, and it stung, and when he touched it, his hand came away red with blood. He tried to stand but there was a sickening sound, like popcorn crunching, and he screamed, falling back to the floor turtling his small body around his injured right leg._

_He glanced around wildly and saw the bad men had reached the end of the hall. They stopped at the door to his house, and Jensen watched, wide-eyed, as they pulled dark sticks from holsters on their backs. The sticks glowed blue at one end, and then the fiery haired one kicked the door down._

_All Jensen could do was cry, “No, no, no…”_

_He dragged himself down the hallway, his useless leg leaving a trail of blood on the floor behind him. Mama and Dada were in danger! But it hurt so bad he had to stop a few times along the way. He started to sob when the screaming started and had barely made it to his front door when his mama ran out._

_She cried out, “Jensen!” She reached for him, but before she could take another step a strange blue light began to glow in the middle of her chest._

_Mama screamed, or her mouth screamed, but Jensen couldn’t hear her. The blue glow grew brighter and then there was blood, so much blood. She crumpled to the floor and Jensen crawled the last few feet across the red, slick concrete. He grabbed his mama’s hand, and whispered her name. She wasn't moving, and Mama never slept during the day._

_Unsure what to do, Jensen curled his small body up beside her and tugged her arm over him, so she could cuddle him as she slept. Mama could always make him feel better when he was hurt, and his leg hurt so very badly. He rocked himself in her arms, like she’d done to him so often, he kept mouthing the words ‘Mama, Mama, Mama.’ His face hurt, and he tried to scrub the tears from his eyes, hiccupping softly when he ran out of air. He worried about Maddy and Dada, he couldn’t hear Maddy’s cry._

_He huddled there a long time, but Mama still hadn’t woken up. Her blood was sticky and cooling on his back where he huddled in her arms. It made him afraid. He didn’t want to look, but he knew he had to. Breathing in deep, trying to be the brave little man his dada told him he was, he turned in his mama’s arms and gently touched the big burned hole in her chest. He pulled the pink sweater Mama had worn that day, to match the pink flowers in her blouse, over the hole so she wouldn’t be cold. He closed his eyes and rocked his head back and forth whispering to her that everything was gonna be okay. Everything was going to be fine._

_A dark shadow loomed over him, and Jensen looked up into the Enforcer’s red swirling eyes._

: : :

“Jensen, Jensen…Ackles!”

_Mama!_

Jensen jerked, and rolled, his hand going instantly for his Clougar under his pillow. Not finding it in its usual spot, he sat up, eyes wide, in time to see the Teeg reaching toward him.

Half asleep, still caught in the dream, reflex had Jensen blocking his arm and twisting, shoving the man’s face into the bed before he even knew it. Blinking rapidly, he worked to get his panicky breathing under control as Jared’s face swam into view. Realization swept through him and he sprang back instantly releasing the Enforcer. “Oh, frak, sorry, sorry man, I just… Ah shit. That’s the second time I’ve tried to take you out.”

Jared held perfectly still, not moving until Jensen stopped babbling. He slowly sat up, and carefully raised his hands in a non-threatening gesture as he stood and stepped back from the bed.

Jensen sat there, hands gripping and regripping the bedspread beneath him in a stranglehold. His heart jackhammered in his chest, his body was bathed in sweat. Jensen looked wildly around the room, but there was no red-eyed Teeg in sight.

As the last of the dream cleared, he scrambled to sit up straighter in the bed. He forced his hands to open, to let go of the coverlet, shook his damp hair out of his eyes. Heat shed off him in waves, he was burning up.

He became conscious of the delicious smell that filled the room…pizza, and something else.

“Just trying to bring you some ‘za man.” Jensen’s eyes tracked Jared’s gesture towards the overturned plate and he groaned, closing his eyes.

“You sure you’re okay?” Jared asked carefully his hand reaching out to squeeze Jensen’s shoulder reassuringly.

Jensen automatically batted the hand away, wary of any kindness. He turned, his eyes narrowed with suspicion, to look directly into concerned eyes.

Ashamed at his reaction, Jensen scrubbed his face with his hands. They were trembling, his body still riding the edge of the adrenaline rush. He hadn’t dreamed about his mama’s death so clearly in years. Hadn’t thought he could even remember that many details of that day, as young as he had beenat the time. The Enforcer, no _Jared_ , had only been trying to be decent.

“Sorry man. Bad dream.” He finally choked out.

“Here, uh, sit down.” Jensen patted the side of the bed as he eased over. He pushed the pillows up behind his back so he could make room for the Enforcer to sit.

Shooting him a careful smile, Jared gingerly sat on the edge, straightened his shirt. It was the most tentative Jensen had ever seen the hard charging Enforcer act.

“Sorry, sorry, I just…I guess I’m still a little jumpy. Ugh.” Jensen peeled a pizza slice off the covers, checking for blanket fuzz and not finding any. He put it back onto the plate and plopped it on his lap. The blanket was way too threadbare to shed fuzz, anyway.

“I’ll take this piece.” Jensen offered, flushing bright red as his gaze darted to the stained mess of the bedspread. What had he thought Jared was going to do?

Somewhat awkwardly, Jensen reached toward the nightstand and picked up the second plate he’d seen sitting there and offered it to Jared.

Jared accepted the plate holding it awkwardly in front of him. He leaned down and grabbed up a beer out of a six pack that was now sitting on the floor by the nightstand.

Jared took a long pull from the bottle and wiped his mouth. A few minutes later he looked at Jensen and said quietly, “There’s enough for both of us.” Looking pointedly at the beer.

Jensen gratefully grabbed up a bottle.

“I don’t normally have nightmares. I think I must have picked up a bug or a chill in that downpour today.” Jensen raised his hand to his forehead. “Jeez, I really am burning up, here.”

Jared looked away, an almost guilty expression on his face.

Jensen rushed in to assure him. “Hey, it’s not your fault I’m sick. I took the Qualls job, I was the one who chose to hunt him down through the pouring rain in Skag Town.”

“No, I get it. I’m sorry I scared you. But the pizza arrived, and we had agreed… ” Jared’s lips twisted, “I almost didn’t wake you, you’re obviously tired, but then I heard you thrashing around in here... Anyway, I’m sure it’s nothing ten hours of sleep and a bite of pizza won't cure.” Jared gestured toward the six pack. “And, everything goes better with beer.”

At first Jensen wasn’t sure if he could eat, but then his stomach growled on cue. He gave Jared a lopsided grin as he patted his gurgling stomach, “I think you’ve made the right call. Oh man, it smells amazing. I could eat a horse.”

A ghost of a smile flickered across the big Enforcer’s face, and Jensen caught a flash of dimples and white teeth. A warm sensation curled through his belly at the thought of making Jared smile.

Tipping back the longneck, Jensen took a long satisfying swallow of his beer. When he looked up, Jared had his gaze pinned studiously on Jensen’s jeans-clad leg. Glancing away, suddenly embarrassed, Jensen took another sip of his beer.

“So how’d you hurt it, a case?”

Jensen snorted and almost choked on his mouthful.

“No, a little gift from the master race.” Jensen rubbed absently at his right knee. The pain had been with him so long he hardly noticed it now, except for days when he’d been on his feet a long time. At the orphanage, it had never healed right, and the few human doctors he’d come in contact with over the years said they couldn’t do anything for it. The Teeg’s healing machines were his best hope, and Jensen had never had the spare coin to pay for something like that.

If he was honest with himself, and he usually was, the idea of groveling to the Teeg to use their technology to heal what they’d broken sickened him. Besides he needed to save every dollar. You never knew when an injury on a case might lay you up for a month or two, and he wanted to stay more than a few steps ahead of state run human housing. Jensen shuddered at the thought of being forced to move back. The low-income tenements were a cesspool of misery and violence. He’d clawed his way out of them once, he was never looking back.

“You don’t much like Teeg, do you?” Jared asked, chewing carefully on his own slice.

“Not so much. I think being left an orphan at the age of four because of them kinda does that to a guy. You? What’s your story? Don’t think there are many humans capable of making the grade as an Enforcer.”

Jared nodded and took a sip of beer. “Always wanted to be one, ever since I was little. I guess I was lucky I never saw the side of them that you did...uhm, do. It was just my mom and me growing up. She was a cultural attaché to the UN, and helped with the Teeg integration, so I think compared to a lot of humans, we had it good. No forced relocation, no job reassignment or state dole. Heck, we lived a few blocks from Central Park, in one of the smaller Pre-Teeg buildings. I even ended up going to school with some of the Teeg kids when they put me in the gifted program. So I kind of had it okay. Of course, I had to fight tooth and nail for a spot on the force, but I’m okay with that.”

“Yeah, I can imagine you are.” Jensen said wistfully as he looked at the Enforcer. The man was physically imposing, larger and stronger than Jensen, and in top physical form. Yeah, Jensen couldn’t imagine Jared taking a back seat to anyone. “Well, be glad of it brother, because it sure wasn’t much of a picnic for the rest of the human race.”

“Yeah, I’m pickin’ that up. ‘M going to get more 'za. You want?”

Jensen looked down at his already empty plate. The lingering spicy scent in the room only encouraged his appetite. Jensen breathed in deeply and nodded. “I don’t know what you ordered on it, but it smells fantastic, and tastes even better.”

Jared shrugged and gave him a brief tantalizing flash of dimples. Jensen decided he liked seeing the Enforcer smile, that he needed to do it much more often. When Jared returned with the pizza box, Jensen snagged them each another beer while, Jared good naturedly divvied up the rest of the pie between them.

“To the survival of the human race.” Jensen clicked his glass against Jared’s. “May the Teeg never grind us out like the able bodied cockroaches we are.”

When Jared’s smile dimmed, Jensen’s gut dropped guiltily. He made a mental note to lay off dissing the Teeg to the Enforcer. Jensen’s problems, after all, were obviously not Jared’s. In a bid to change the sudden awkwardness between them, Jensen hit upon the topic of aircars versus the old fossil fuel run ground cars, and that kicked off a spirited debate. They must have talked for an hour, drinking the last of their beer and finishing off the the pizza as the sun started to rise.

Sunlight began to stream through the windows. Caught in profile, Jared’s vulpine features were accentuated by the soft light, and Jensen was once again struck by how handsome the man was. As he looked at the Enforcer, it was like all the air was sucked out of the room and he was strangely lightheaded.

Maybe it was the alcohol, or the fever cycling waves of heat through his body, or simply the musky, sweet scent in the air that seemed to blanket around him, but Jensen was finding it hard to keep his eyes off the man. He was painfully hard already, and Jensen’s efforts to discreetly adjust himself didn’t do much to relieve the discomfort.

Holding his beer in a death grip, Jensen swallowed down the last mouthful. The empty bottle was the perfect excuse to put a little distance between him and the Enforcer before he did something stupid. He stood abruptly, and the room tilted crazily for a moment but settled, and it felt good to stand on his own two feet.

“Do you think there was more where this came from?” Jensen voice was gravelly and raw. To hide his expression, he quickly bent to drop his empty into the six pack with the others and hefted the carton in his hand. He straightened too quickly and nearly toppled over but Jared’s quick hand on his hip steadied him.

Jared’s hand slid from Jensen’s hip and reached up under the loose tails of Jensen’s shirt to lay flat and warm against the skin of his stomach. The muscles of Jensen’s abdomen rippled at the contact, but he didn’t break away. It was almost like he’d become stuck to Jared’s hand. “Um, as a matter of fact, there might be another more,” Jared answered. “But are you sure you wouldn’t rather get some sleep?”

“Depends.” Jensen shivered. Heat seemed to flow from Jared’s fingertips, and Jensen’s entire body tingled. “You know, it may be old hat to you, having just survived an armed encounter. But I sort of feel like celebrating.”

“We can do that. I sort of feel like celebrating too,” Jared’s enigmatic reply was soft and whisky deep. Without saying anything more he grabbed up the empty plates and pizza box and preceded Jensen into the kitchen.

The sight of those miles of long legs and Jared’s broad shoulders did something funny to Jensen’s insides, and his fever burned hotter.

Jared dug around in the fridge but all the beer was gone. Looking through the cabinet, he managed to find a bottle of red wine. Jared raised the bottle and gave Jensen a questioning glance. Jensen shrugged and worked on locating a corkscrew and glasses. While Jensen unsealed the bottle Jared restlessly prowled the kitchen. When Jensen started to fill their glasses, Jared suddenly crowded up behind him, slotting their bodies together from shoulder to thigh, and snatched the bottle from Jensen’s grasp with a mischievous grin.

Trapped in the circle of his arms, Jensen turned to face Jared. His long taut body rubbed up against him, and Jensen groaned at the delicious friction. A wicked grin spread over Jared’s face, and his eyes closed to gold green slits as he dangled the bottle in front of Jensen. His voice was low and predatory as he whispered, “Let’s share.”

Jensen watched, transfixed, as Jared’s throat rippled, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed a mouthful of the wine. Jensen stepped back, but Jared caught him, reaching to cup Jensen's cheek before pulling him in for a kiss.

Their lips touched, and Jensen’s mouth opened on a gasp. Jared sealed his mouth over Jensen’s and as Jensen's eyes closed, sort of without him deciding to, Jared let some of the rich Merlot flow into his mouth, then licked inside.

Jensen’s pulse thumped loudly in his ears as Jared continued to kiss him, long after the last lingering notes of the wine had disappeared. Wet, messy, and this side of desperate, their lips tangled over and over.

Jensen moaned when Jared reluctantly released him, and rubbed his stubbled jaw against the Enforcer’s neck in protest. Jared looked down at him hungrily, and shifted his hand to the back of Jensen’s neck as he swooped in once more. He worked his way across Jensen’s face, pressing small kisses around the man’s cheek and jaw, then licked a hot, wet line down his throat.

Some instinct had Jensen leaning back, baring his throat to Jared’s exploration. Teeth grazed his neck, and Jensen trembled, his chest heaving as he sucked in ragged puffs of breath.

Jared growled possessively and pressed down into Jensen’s collarbone. When his teeth sank in, it was like a high voltage line opened up between them, and Jensen stiffened in his arms. Jared bore down, not enough to draw blood, but enough to bruise, to mark what was his. Jensen’s, cock twitched and jerked, his body tightened. Jared spread his legs wider invitingly and Jensen pressed himself in tighter into the vee of Jared’s legs, rubbing himself shamelessly against the hard swell of the Enforcer’s own growing erection.

His eyes fell shut when, Jared released him and laved at the bruised flesh,nuzzling his face into Jensen’s neck. Jared inhaled deeply, breathing in his scent. Jensen arched into Jared’s touch with a needy whine, worked his hands under Jared’s shirt, rucking up the fabric as he plucked at his nipple bars, visible through the taut material of his shirt.

Humming approval, Jared captured Jensen’s mouth once more, tongue thrusting inside. Jared’s prismatic eyes closed in pleasure, and Jensen heard him rumble in approval, as he playfully ground his jeans-clad hips back against Jensen’s body.

Jensen was on fire. The friction of Jared’s hips on his cock had him close to coming in his pants again, and fever bright, Jensen found it hard to care.

Then, Jared stepped back.

The cold column of air between their bodies was shocking. Jensen tried to follow Jared's body, but Jared grabbed him by the hips and held him in place. “J, wait. Wait. Stop, man.”

Jensen looked up at him, confused, “But...”

Jared rushed to add, “No, not stop, stop. I want you so bad, but not here. Want to get somewhere more comfortable where we can take our time. All right?”

Jensen's thoughts were slowed and his eyelids weighted with desire but Jared's words finally penetrated the fog of lust. He made sense.. Jensen managed a slow blink, and to find two words and say them., “God, yes.”

: : :

They stumbled their way back to the bedroom; neither wanting to let go of the other for long. Clothing drifted to the floor as they pawed at each other’s bodies. By the time they got back to Jensen’s bedroom, they were both panting heavily and mostly naked. Jared still had his socks and boxer briefs on, while Jensen somehow still wore his pants.

His hands on Jared’s hips, Jensen stared hungrily at the nipple bars now fully visible on Jared’s chest. His fingers reached automatically to tug and twist at the sensitive nubs and Jared gasped. “God, you’re so sensitive, how long have you had them?” Jensen whispered as he sucked a tightening bud into his mouth. He nipped at the perky flesh, twisting the bar in his mouth like his favorite new chew toy.

“J-just got them last month. You’re the first.” Jared’s voice was breathy and deep and Jensen thought the top of his head might blow off right then and there at the thought that he had done this to the Enforcer. He sucked harder on the sensitive nub, releasing it only to lap at and tease the other.

“God Jare, you’re killing me here. Gotta get you naked, lick you all over.”

“You too,” and Jared folded gracefully to his knees before Jensen. It was like some kind of wet dream come true as he mouthed at Jensen’s crotch and slowly lowered the zip of his jeans, tooth by tooth. Jensen groaned and tried not to thrust forward into Jared’s face. He settled for running his hands through the silky strands of Jared’s hair.

Jared’s big, warm hand reached into Jensen’s shorts and carefully pulled his cock out. Holding it by the base, Jared’s tilted eyes stared up at Jensen, hunger written dark in his face. He smiled, a wicked feral grin, then dipped down and licked a long stripe up the underside of Jensen’s cock.

Jensen groaned, and flushed as another wave of heat rushed through him. His thighs began to quiver as his cock bobbed, hard and aching, between them. Precome leaked steadily from the tip. Jared hummed appreciatively and licked a wide, wet stripe across his palm, grasped Jensen’s cock, started to strip the hard, spit-slick flesh. Jensen threw back his head and bit back a groan unsure how much longer he would last.

With a knowing smile, Jared squeezed the base of Jensen’s cock, fed it slowly into the warm cavity of his mouth, and began to hum. One hand slipped up to grasp Jensen’s hip while the other reached down to roll his balls in his hand.

Jensen swallowed repeatedly as he stared down at Jared, whose lips stretched obscenely around Jensen's cock. The purring hum vibrated along his length, and Jensen whimpered as he watched his hard flesh disappear and reappear at a measured pace, in and out of Jared’s pink lips.

He closed his eyes, reveling in the building sensations as Jared tugged and squeezed his balls. Finally, unable to last a minute longer, Jensen choked out, “Jare, gonna come…” But Jared only grabbed Jensen’s hips, swallowing Jensen down to the root.

Unable to resist, Jensen bucked, his hips twisting helplessly as he came, shooting deep down Jared’s throat. Jensen's hands cradled Jared's head against his belly as he came, hard enough his vision whited out for a minute.

When he became aware of the room again, Jared was still massaging his balls as he milked him of every last drop.

“Frak, Jare. Fraking unbelievable.”

Jared, carefully licked his cock clean, like a big predatory cat with a bowl of cream.

With a wet plop he released Jensen’s still half hard cock and licked his lips obscenely. “You up for more, or do you need that nap we were talking about?” Jared smirked.

“Oh screw the nap, it’s so on.” Jensen grinned and helped Jared to his feet as he kicked his jeans and boxers from around his ankles.

Jensen walked Jared back to the bed and pushed him down onto the mattress. Jared bounced as he hit the bed and laughed.

“You’re not even undressed yet,” Jensen smirked, “But I can fix that.”

He crawled lazily up Jared’s body and tugged at the man’s tented boxers. They clung to his cock, damp with precome. When Jensen pulled, Jared’s cock free, and Jensen's eyes went wide in surprise. Jared had a gorgeous cock, long and thick and cut, the flesh turning a pretty dark red as pre-come leaked steadily from his slit. Jared was everything and more that Jensen had expected. What he hadn’t expected was the curling sweep of the metal ring through the tip of Jared’s straining member.

Jensen swallowed as his mouth filled with saliva. “Been saving the best for last, haven’t you?” Jensen murmured as he braced his hands on either side of Jared’s hips and licked around and around the weeping head, laving cool metal and warm flesh again and again. He couldn’t help but play the metal loop with his tongue, before closing his mouth over the head of Jared’s dick. The sensation of the cool metal as it dragged along the inside of his mouth had his own exhausted cock struggling to fatten.

Jared moaned and bucked up against him, and Jensen choked as Jared nudged the back of his throat.

“Sorry, sorry,” Jared whispered and tried to hold himself still. Jensen moved his hands to Jared’s hips as he continued to lick and suckle Jared’s dick like a giant lollipop. He spit on his hand and started to jack Jared’s shaft, while he leaned up to play with Jared’s other piercings, sucking a pierced nipple into his mouth. He looked up at Jared. The Enforcer’s head was flung back deep into the cushions, his cheeks fever bright as he stared at Jensen.

Releasing one the wet nipple Jensen blew over it gently. Jared whined and wriggled his hips. “Still want to fuck you. That okay?” Jared whispered as Jensen moved to torment the other side of Jared’s chest.

“God, yes,” Jensen agreed, tugging at the metal with gentle teeth.

Jared bucked convulsively into his hand. “Want you to come while I’m inside you, okay, J?”

In response Jensen blew a warm puff of air over the other nipple, and Jared moaned, pushing back into the pillow. He squirmed free of Jensen's attentions and reached for him.

“Okay, easy over, then,” Jared ordered, and helped Jensen turn over, and kneel up. Jared grabbed all the pillows, on the bed, stuffing worn thin as they were, and stacked them to support Jensen’s hips and ease the strain on his bad knee, before easing him down onto his knees and elbows. The new position exposed Jensen’s pink hole, and Jared couldn’t resist leaning down and laving a couple of quick stripes along Jensen's taint. Jensen jerked in surprise then let out a shuddering laugh, pushing back against Jared's tongue.

Jared rubbed the globes of Jensen’s ass teasingly, and gently ran a couple of fingers down Jensen’s crease, to circle around his tightly furled hole. Jensen gasped as Jared started to finger him open.

“Lube,” Jared muttered, pushing off the bed. Jensen could hear him fumbling in his pants pockets.

Jensen hadn't come prepared – he'd had no idea he would need to, but apparently Jared was a "be prepared" kind of guy. Jensen tensed when the newly slicked fingers returned to his entrance. Jared carefully squeezed more lube out of the packet onto Jensen’s hole, but before going any further,, Jared paused and planted a kiss on the cheek of Jensen’s ass. “Been a while since you bottomed, J?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” Jensen huffed out, biting his lip. He tried to shove down the feeling of vulnerability as Jared’s large body blanketed him. Jensen must have fucked hundreds of guys over the years, but he’d never let himself bottom before. Never trusted anyone enough to put himself in this position.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.” Jared’s breath tickled his back.

Jensen started to jack himself slowly to distract from the sensation of Jared’s finger working its way inside. He moved his hand in time with Jared’s careful thrusts. He was trembling, half in dread, half in desire. Jared ran his hand up and down Jensen’s side in an attempt to calm him.

Jared added a second finger and rubbed carefully on the sides of Jensen’s passage, searching for something. When Jensen arched back onto his hand with a startled gasp, Jared’s soft chuff of laughter against his shoulder told him he had found the right spot. “See, I told you, Green Eyes.”

When Jared added a third finger, Jensen started to push back on his fingers, begging for more. “Do it,” Jensen whined. “Fucking do it already.”

He could almost see Jared’s smile as he nipped gently at Jensen’s ass. “Hush. Don’t want to hurt you. You’re so tight, baby.”

“Wanna feel you in me. Now.” Jensen moaned, his hands dropping to grip the sheets in preparation.

Hesitantly, like Jensen was made of something fine, something precious and breakable, Jared pulled his fingers out and lined his cock up with Jensen’s hole. He slipped on the overabundance of lube and ended up rutting along Jensen’s crease. Jensen wiggled his ass and moaned, his hand slapping desperately at his own cock. Lining up again, Jared started to push inside. He was still met with some resistance, but Jensen’s needy moans encouraged him past the tight outer muscle, until the head of his dick finally popped inside.

Jensen tensed at the burn and the strange new sense of fullness, of Jared being _there_. Jared took a shaky breath, and waited until Jensen began to relax around him. Jensen moaned and Jared took it as a signal to continue. He grasped Jensen’s hips, and started to rock gently in and out of Jensen’s tight channel, nudging a little further inside with each stroke.

Jensen’s ass felt like it was being stretched to the limit, and his erection wilted as Jared slowly worked his cock into him. The burn of fullness soon turned to building arousal as Jared adjusted his angle to brush against his prostate. Jensen whined, head tossing as his cock started to fill again. Jared’s balls slapped against Jensen’s ass as his pace increased, his angled thrusts continued to send sparks up Jensen’s spine as the pressure built.

Jensen’s cock was fully hard now. His hand worked frantically, palming over the leaking head to spread more slick along his shaft. He wondered how long Jared would last. By the sounds the Enforcer was making, not long. Jensen bit at his lip and stripped his straining dick harder as Jared picked up the pace.

Jared came first, gasping and wide mouthed, his whole body stiffening as he shot his load deep inside Jensen. As his hips continued to rock and jerk, he leaned forward, blanketing Jensen’s back. He slid his hands up either side of Jensen’s chest and with one rough tug, pulled on both of Jensen’s nipples. The hot spark of pain pushed him over the edge as well.

Jensen gasped as he spilled, white-hot pleasure roaring through him as he came over his hand and the sheets, his quivering ass clenching and releasing Jared’s cock as it milked him of the last of his orgasm. They knelt there, hunched together until their breathing slowed, and Jared’s softened dick slid free.

Covered in sweat and weary beyond mentioning, the scent of lust and sex chokingly thick in the room, Jared helped ease Jensen onto his side on the bed, careful of his bad knee as he spooned up behind him. The last thing Jensen remembered was the sound of Jared’s satisfied hum as Jensen wriggled back against him.

“Good for you, J?” Jared mumbled, almost asleep.

“Yeah, though I think you might have broke me with that damn big cock of yours.”

Jared chucked sleepily and rubbed his face against Jensen’s shoulder blade. “Just for you man. Just for you. Sweet dreams, J.”

“Sweet dreams.” Jensen yawned sleepily.

: : : ^^ Comments always appreciated 

 


	4. Worlds Collide

[   
](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/58731.html)

: : :

His head was nestled in the hollow of the man’s neck, and when he opened his eyes, his view was a mop of dark shaggy hair. Jensen blinked, trying to orient himself as the long lean body beneath him snuffled in his sleep. Swimming towards consciousness, he realized he was sprawled half on top of the broad chest of the Enforcer – Jared. It all started to come back to him as he stared at the dodgy pink flowered wallpaper.

 

Groggily, he glanced at the nightstand: eight o’clock in the morning. He’d slept almost twenty hours. Of course, some of it had been spent making love to his Enforcer. To Jared.

Jared moved in his sleep, grinding lazily against Jensen’s thigh, and Jensen’s morning wood stiffened as the encouraging motion continued. Rolling his shoulders, Jensen hummed as he leaned his chin on his hands and watched Jared sleep. He wondered if he would see the Enforcer again after this case was over.

At rest, Jared looked younger, more innocent than Jensen would have thought possible. His hair lay messily across his face and Jensen’s fingers itched to comb it back so he could see the sharp cut of his cheekbones more clearly. Afraid to disturb him, though, he settled for inhaling the spicy, warm scent of Jared’s skin as they lay pressed up against each other, naked under the covers.

He thought about the night before, reliving every moment, walking Jared back to the bedroom, crawling up that long, lean body, and the sensation of Jared pulsing inside him as he came.

This morning he had awakened not only refreshed, but invigorated, the last of his fever burned away in his night of passion. Jared, it seemed, was good for him.

His musing was interrupted by the realities of life, and, bladder full to bursting, Jensen carefully eased off Jared’s chest. The Enforcer murmured in protest, his arm reaching out for him in his sleep. Jensen smiled softly as Jared curled himself around Jensen’s sleep warm pillow like a big puppy.

Ass aching in a way Jensen had never felt before, he staggered to the bathroom. The light flickered reluctantly to life as its sensors detected his presence in the room. He took a leak and limped to the sink to freshen up. His mouth tasted foul; he would have killed for his toothbrush right about then, but didn’t quite have the energy to go root through his duffel and find it.

He checked himself out in the mirror. He not only felt better, it seemed he looked a bit better, too, the red flush of fever was gone. It was nice not to have heat radiating off his skin. As soon as he thought it, his head started to pound. Had he really drunk that much last night?

He splashed some water on his face, refreshed a bit by the chill. He drank a few mouthfuls from his cupped his hands – he felt desert-dry. What he wouldn’t do for an aspirin or twelve, right about now. He was about to hunt down his toothbrush, promising himself a shower right after, when something caught his eye. He squinted into the crazed glass of the mirror and blinked. He leaned in farther, running his hand through his hair.

“What the fuck!” His voice carried farther than he'd intended in the tiled room, and guilt heated his cheeks further as he heard Jared bolt from the bed. Jensen heard cursing and the sound of sheets tearing, before there was a great thump, as the Enforcer slammed into the door frame of the bathroom and shoved the door open, blaster raised.

“What! What? Jensen are you okay?”

Jensen threw his hands up in alarm and stumbled back. “Don’t frakin’ shoot!”

Jared growled and ran his non-blaster-holding hand through his hair, letting the weapon drop to his side. “Jensen, frak, don’t scare me like that. What the hell's wrong? You still feeling sick? I was worried about the beer and your…”

Jensen pulled at his hair and peered closer into the mirror for confirmation, then turned to Jared, holding the offending strands in his hand. “This, this is what’s wrong, do you see it? This!”

Green streaks now artfully swept through the hair at his temples, while gold stripes streaked and highlighted the hair on the top of his head. In the flickering light of the bathroom it was barely noticeable, due to the shortness of Jensen’s hair, but it was there nonetheless. He could easily imagine how striking it would look if he ever let it grow out. He shook his head. This could not be happening to him.

“What the hell is this? What did Qualls do to me? I’m turning into a freakin’ Teeg!”

Jared’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he was finally able to speak. “Jensen, um, I- uh, I think there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.” Jared held out his hands trying to placate him.

“Yeah, like I’m turning into a freakin’ Teeg. So, does that mean Qualls is trying to kill me too? What the hell, Jared?”

“I’m pretty sure Qualls didn’t have anything to do with...” There were bright red spots on Jared’s cheeks as he made a helpless gesture toward Jensen’s hair. “…er, that.”

“Then what is this?” Jensen knew he was being unreasonable, but he was more than a little pissed. He’d tried to help Qualls. It was bad enough the little twerp fooled him, and was trying to end the Teeg race, but turning humans into Teegs? That was the last straw. So, was he going to die, now, too?

Jared reached out to touch, and Jensen allowed it. But Jensen was unprepared for the warm jolt the Enforcer’s touch sent down his spine. Jared must have scraped his feet on the carpet, or something. He caught himself in time before he leaning into the man’s hand. _Get a hold of yourself Ackles!_

“Feels soft, like...your hair. And you’re sure this wasn’t there before?”

“Like I wouldn’t have noticed green and gold streaks suddenly appearing in my hair? NO! What am I supposed to do now? What else is going to happen to me?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure you’re not dying. It looks more to me like some kind of camouflage, to blend in with the Teeg.” Jared stated calmly.

“Camouflage? Who said anything about wanting to blend in? I don’t want to blend in with anyone, certainly not the Teeg!” Jensen winced at how high his voice was climbing. Taking a deep breath he began again at a lower register. “Why the hell would I sprout Teeg camouflage? I’ve only been really close to one for the first time in months, yesterday, for like, five minutes.” Jensen whirled and looked back in the mirror. “You mean by touching me on the forehead he could make me blend in with the Teeg?”

“Well under certain circumstances, Teeg swap hair color. But it’s nothing life threatening.” Jared explained far too rationally for Jensen’s nerves.

“But the Teeg who touched me, his hair was black with blue and silver streaks. Where does that leave us, Sherlock?”

“Wait, you said, he touched you on the forehead? You never mentioned that in your interview.” Jared’s brow furrowed.

“I didn't know I could suddenly pass as a Teeg from a single touch. It was just before I passed out from the freeze bombs you guys were dropping on us in the market. I barely remembered it happening.”

“It means the Teeg may be able to track us here to the safe house, even with the precautions we’ve taken. Teeg can form a mental bond, sort of like a tracking link, with their prey that's not dependent on scent.”

Jensen resisted rolling his eyes. The freaky outworlders never ceased to amaze him with their alien-ness. “So, what can we do about it?”

Jared’s tongue darted out to wet his lips as he contemplated Jensen’s question. Frustrated by the lack of an immediate answer, Jensen pushed past him, stomping into the bedroom, as well as his limp would allow. He dragged on his jeans and shirt and started out the door without a backward glance.

“Hey, where are you going?” Jared asked as he scrambled down the hall after him. “You’re still under protective custody, mine!”

Jensen turned to glare at Jared. If he wasn’t so rattled, it would be kind of funny having the big sasquatch, still wrapped in a sheet, chasing after him like this. “Fat lot of good you’ve done me so far. I’m turning into a Teeg right under your nose, and you don’t know anything about it. And I’m going to get a coffee, if you must know.”

Jared went back to the room and hastily pulled on his own black slacks and shirt and joined Jensen in the kitchen-living room. “Jensen, there’s a logical explanation for this. We'll find out what it is, you just have to be patient.”

“I’m going to strangle that Teeg when I see him.” Jensen growled, slamming cabinet doors open and closed until he finally found the coffee.

“He might be trying to kill you. You have to be careful.” Jared’s comm buzzed, distracting him from Jensen's fuming. Morgan’s face appeared on the screen.

“Padalecki, good news. I’ve found a member of my pride that was a geneticist of some acclaim, in his day. He’s off-planet at the moment, but he said he could meet with you and take a look at the data as soon as he returns home. I set up the meet four days from now at noon.”

Jared nodded understanding and agreement, and Morgan went on to ask, “Has there been any sign of trouble?” Jensen started to speak, but Jared made a cutting gesture and Jensen closed his mouth with a snap.

“Nothing sir. So far, so good. No one’s tailed us to the house, but I'm thinking of ordering extra surveillance on the street, as a precaution. The Teeg may have put a tracking link on Jensen.”

“Oh, that’s not good, but if they can’t pick up the scent, they can only narrow it down to the general area. I’ll put in permission for you to order up whatever support you think is necessary. If you think you’re in danger, we can move safehouses. I hope we can keep flying under the radar until we have a better idea of what we’re dealing with. I’m comming you the elder’s coordinates. His name is Fallon. He’s a bit on the ‘quirky’ side, if you know what I mean.”

Jared raised an eyebrow at that statement, but only said, “Received, sir. Thank you.” Jared checked his comm.

“And Padalecki…you and PI Ackles be careful.”

: : :

For about the tenth time that afternoon, Jensen tugged the blinds down to peer out the dirty windows at the busy street below. He could see the not-so-plain-clothes Enforcers loitering across the street. It was like watching two fridges try to appear inconspicuous. Jensen snorted and scratched at his head absently.

He could almost feel the alien colored strands _moving_. Last time he looked in the mirror he could swear his hair was longer than it had been yesterday. Even Jared’s friendly offer to join him in the shower this morning hadn’t distracted him for long. Jensen’s ass tingled at the thought of another round with Jared. Who knew he’d adjust so easily to the idea of the Enforcer’s strong hands holding him down and his big cock splitting him open? He turned, lips pursing as his gaze traveled over the man.

Jared was sprawled at the kitchen table, knees bumping up against the underside, a flexi sheet spread out in front of him and his comm plugged into it to give him a bigger working surface. Small hand gestures controlled the flow of information running across the sheet. Jared had said he was going to research Teeg/Human links. But from the tense line of his shoulders Jensen would guess the Enforcer hadn’t found much of use.

“Anything yet?” Jensen strolled to the bar seating separating the kitchen from the living room. Jared looked up, a far away look on his face.

“Mmm?”

“I said, you find anything yet?” Jensen resisted the urge to automatically scratch at his head again. It was subliminal, it had to be.

Jared tipped his head sideways, really focusing on him, fox eyes squinting.

“Umm, Ackles… is your hair longer than it was yesterday?”

Jensen slammed his hand down on the counter top, “I knew it! I frakin’ knew it!” and started to scratch with a vengeance like a dog with fleas.

“Ha, just yankin’ your chain man. Your hair’s the same as it was yesterday.”

The impish smile and flash of dimples made Jensen want to both kiss the man and punch him at the same time.

“Fraker!” Jensen growled but softened it with a smile. “So are you sure I can’t use my comm?”

Jared glanced at the wall safe where Jensen’s confiscated comm and his Clougar rested.

“No, sorry. Protective custody rules specifically prohibit contact with the outside. It’s for your own good.” Jared looked back at him again, and his eyes narrowed “You’re still looking a bit tired, why don't you go take a nap? It’ll be suppertime in a couple of hours, I’ll wake you then.”

Jensen’s mouth twisted ruefully. He had rent to pay, clients to find. Especially as he probably would never get paid for the Qualls job. He huffed out an exasperated breath. At least he was saving the world – or at least, the Teeg. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Sorry man. I know it’s no picnic being locked up in here. You know what they say? No good deed goes unpunished. Now go on, sleep. I’ll call you.”

“Okay, man. Yeah, I am still a bit tired.” Jensen rubbed his head. He was still running a little warm. Maybe a nap would take his mind off his hair. “‘Kay, later.” Jensen started to limp down the hall.

Jared’s comm rang. William’s face appeared on the screen.

“Padalecki here.” Jared tapped his ear so the conversation would be private.

“Really? Another scientist. Is he all right? Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. I’ll call an extra undercover unit to cover for me. See you in an hour.”

Jensen lingered by the door, his investigator senses tingling. “What’s going on?”

Jared’s mouth tightened, like he was girding himself for an argument as he walked down the hall to where Jensen leaned against the bedroom doorframe. “It turns out another scientist has been attacked by a Teeg on his way to work. He barely escaped. Steve, Enforcer Williams, thinks we should go interview him. See if anything connects with Qualls. Maybe we’re talking some kind of conspiracy here.”

“Great idea, I’ll get my coat.” Jensen started to dart into his room when Jared’s hand snapped out and grabbed him by the arm. Jensen froze in place as sparking warmth spread from Jared’s palm and sizzled straight to his groin. Jensen gasped in reaction, his cock beginning to fatten in some kind of Pavolvian response to Jared’s touch, his scent lingering.

Fortunately Jared seemed oblivious to the firestorm the simple contact had sparked, interpreting Jensen’s actions only as protests.

“Not so fast, Itchy. You’re not leaving the safehouse. That would sort of defeat the purpose of… you know, SAFE HOUSE. I’m calling backup to take over while I’m gone. They’ll be in the hall and a car outside, so they shouldn’t bother you. But you, my friend, aren’t going anywhere.

“No, that’s not right. I could spot something you might miss.” Jensen jerked his arm out of Jared’s hold. The sparking sensation lessened at the break in contact, but it didn’t reduce the arousal already building. Irritated at both his "protected" situation, and his out of proportion reaction to the Enforcer, Jensen growled and glared at the man. “Frak this!”

“Listen, it’s your life we’re talking about. And I’m not going to risk it. Why make yourself crazy? You’re obviously exhausted, and still sick. I need you to stay put and stay safe. Go have your nap. I’ve got this covered.” Jared patted Jensen’s back as he flicked open his comm and dialed out. Heat blossomed on the nape of Jensen’s neck under Jared’s fingertips.

Grumbling under his breath, Jensen escaped into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. As he made for the shower, a wave of arousal hit him like a freight train. He pressed his hand down on his growing erection, before stripping off his shirt and jerking down his jeans. He groaned as, once freed, his blood filled cock sprang to attention.

Wrapping his hand around it, he tugged roughly. The friction of his dry, rough hand on his sensitive dick made him bite back a broken moan of pain. He squirted liquid soap on his palm and reached with the other hand to turn on the shower, hoping running water would mask any sound. Almost frantic now with the delay, he ran his slick palm over the weeping tip and started to jack himself.

Maybe he’d been working too hard, gotten a little too backed up. Maybe all he needed was a good jerk-off session to clear his mind. It was just that he had never needed to come quite so badly, before. He bit back his shout as he came, while warm water sprayed down his heaving shoulders. Suspicion began to grow that Jared was somehow responsible for all this.

 

The nudge of a huge paw on his shoulder woke him. Jensen reluctantly let go of the pillow he had clutched and rolled to his side with a grunt. He looked blearily up at Jared's face, which was startlingly close. Jared’s nostrils flared as he breathed in deeply, and Jensen became aware of a deep spicy scent in the air that he was beginning to associate solely with Jared. Jared’s hands were braced on either side of Jensen’s body, bracketing him in.

“Hey, man, you must have been tired, you disappeared so fast. One minute I heard you in the shower, and next you’re zonked out completely.” Jared’s words were soft as he laid the back of his hand against Jensen’s forehead, his brow wrinkled in concern.

Jared grimaced. “I’m sorry to wake you, but I came to let you know backup is here. They're in the hallway downstairs. They shouldn’t really bother you unless they see some suspicious movement.” Jared moved his hand to touch Jensen’s cheeks. “But now I’m not sure if I should leave you alone like this. You okay? You don’t look that hot.” Jared’s mouth twitched as he realized what he had said and dimples appeared on either side of his wide mouth.

Jensen grimaced, and wriggled back higher up the pillows. His sheet fell down his chest and he watched Jared’s pupil’s darken as he gazed at Jensen’s quickly hardening nipples.

“I guess I’m still a bit tired. Go, do your thing. If you really loved me you’d leave me my Clougar though.” Jensen smiled innocently.

A quick hard kiss to the lips and Jensen was left staring up into Jared’s eyes as his hand gently cupped Jensen’s cheek. It took an act of Herculean strength for Jensen to resist leaning into the Enforcer’s touch and humming.

“If I don’t watch it you’ll have me twisted around your fingers, but no, no Clougar for you, Itchy.” Jared’s comm beeped, and he straightened abruptly, “Okay then, I’m off. Be careful, all right, Jensen? Be back in a couple of hours, and I’ll bring home supper.”

“Mnmm, such a good little wife.” Jensen snarked and rolled onto his side in an attempt to hide his growing erection. He needn’t have worried though, Jared had already spun on his heel and left, closing the door softly behind him.

Jensen listened until he heard the front door close and the lock click. Then with a groan, he rolled onto his back and cupped his rock hard dick under the sheets. Man, he had it bad for the big Enforcer. He hadn’t been this horny over a guy since he was in his twenties. Jensen closed his eyes and began to strip his cock for the second time in less than an hour as he replayed the events of the previous night.

_He looked up and Jared was back from the bathroom, standing beside the bed, a knowing look in those green fox eyes and set to gently cleaning Jensen with the warm cloth he had brought. Finally satisfied, he climbed on the bed and straddled Jensen’s hips, pinning him down. He started to lick and touch Jensen’s body, worshipping every inch of pink freckled flesh, working his way up toward his head._

_He paused to nose in close to the sweat damp skin at the juncture of Jensen’s neck and shoulders, alternately laving at the warm flesh or sucking bruises into it. The cold bars of Jared’s nipple clamps rubbed roughly across Jensen’s chest, causing his own nipples to harden. Moaning, Jared clamped his teeth down again on his mark, hard enough to freshen the bruise, renew his claim on Jensen’s flesh. “Mine.” Jensen heard Jared whisper._

_Jared gathered their cocks together in one large hand. On contact, Jensen’s hips bucked up, and they both moaned as Jared jacked them, their erections rubbing against each other. The slip slide of velvet flesh and pre-come had Jensen chewing at his bottom lip, eyes scrunched tight as his pleasure built._

_Unhurried, Jared mouthed his new mark and then slowly kissed his way up to Jensen’s mouth, capturing the small needy sounds his lover was making. With a soft growl, Jared nipped Jensen’s bottom lip. Obedient, Jensen’s mouth fell open on a sigh as Jared swept in, thrusting his tongue inside over and over again._

_Releasing his lips, Jared watched him through half closed eyes as the color bloomed on Jensen’s cheeks. A rush of lust bolted through Jensen at the sight of his lover looming over him, and he squirmed in impatience as Jared’s hand stilled._

_Jared smiled and suddenly released Jensen and rolled onto his back. “Ride me,” he purred._

_Heat roared through Jensen as Jared’s voice reverberated along his skin. Shivering he knelt up. He was a little tender from their first go round, but heated need was pouring off him in waves. He squirted lube on his fingers and reaching behind him, carefully worked his channel open._

_He shivered when his fingers touched some of Jared’s spend still inside him and had to swallow hard when Jared started to fondle himself as he observed Jensen at work. Jared’s large hands rolled his balls repeatedly in his hand, punched out groans coming from his lover as his cock hardened and curved up toward his belly._

_Jensen shuddered as lust bolted through him at the sight of Jared squeezing himself, this side of painful, and rubbing his hand sporadically up and down his bobbing erection. Jensen threw back his head and moaned, palming his own dick as he thrust three fingers into his hole and worked them in and out._

_Unable to wait any longer Jensen drew in a deep breath and straddled Jared’s legs. Batting Jared’s hand away, Jensen closed his eyes in concentration as he grasped Jared’s shaft and lined himself up._

_Jared bucked as Jensen eased the fat tip of his dick into his slick hole. Jensen gasped in pleasure as he sank down in one achingly slow move, until he had taken all of Jared’s cock inside him._

_Jared’s cock filled him and he sat there for a moment, getting used to the burn again._

_He slowly sat up, withdrawing almost to the tip, only to slide back down. Jared whined as Jensen set up a gentle pace, riding his lover. When Jensen started to falter as his bad leg began to ache, Jared pulled Jensen down against his chest, and then held him at the waist, rolling them so that Jensen was on his back, folded in half, with a grinning Jared looming above him._

_Laughing, and a little embarrassed at the ease with which Jared manhandled him into position. Jensen couldn’t help but sigh in relief at the new position. He was soon distracted when Jared rolled his hips and positioned himself deeper inside. All thought soon fled completely when Jared started to pump in and out, angling his thrusts to brush Jensen’s prostate on every stroke._

_The devil in him, Jensen reached to twist and tug at Jared’s nipple bars. Jared gasped, and he gripped the meat of Jensen’s hips more firmly, staring down at him with lust blown eyes. Those eyes seemed to glow, the gold flecks in them appearing and disappearing as he slowly came undone._

_A flush crawled across Jared’s chest, and with a punched out cry, Jared’s cock twitched. The Enforcer hunched forward over Jensen and bit down at the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Jensen cried out in surprise and pain as Jared’s teeth broke the surface at the moment heat flooded his channel. The Enforcer threw back his head and screamed a series of chocked off obscenities as his orgasm ripped through him._

 

Jensen didn’t bother to muffle his own cry as his cock jerked, and come shot through his fingers and across his belly. Grunting, he milked himself of the last of his orgasm, imagining larger, rougher hands and tip tilted eyes staring down at him.

He chuckled humorlessly. At least when this was over, he’d have enough in the spank bank to last a while.

It took a long time for Jensen to fall back to sleep.

: : :

A loud banging at the door woke him. Disoriented in the now darkened room, he staggered to his feet, dried come, sticky and gross, flaking off him. His hand desperately patted at the floor in search of his discarded pants.

“Coming, coming.” He shouted as he hooked one leg into his jeans and started to pull them up. “Damn it,” he cursed as his toe caught on the bed’s foot post.

Hopping on his uninjured foot, he grabbed his flannel shirt off the top of the dresser and jammed his arm in and limped toward the bedroom door. The banging continued.

“Hold on, hold on.” Jensen rubbed his eyes, it was odd that Jared would be back so soon. And Jared wouldn’t really knock. Jensen came to a stop, suddenly wide awake. He glanced out the bedroom window. The undercover cruiser was still outside. Through the pouring rain, Jensen could still make out its two occupants.

Peeking out down the hall at the vid screen showed the hallway outside, Jensen could see a darkly uniformed figure, but something was off. He glanced over at the apartment safe and cursed Jared for confiscating his weapon. If only he had his Clougar, this would go down quite differently.

“Jared, honestly, hang on I’ve got to get dressed.” Jensen looked around desperate for a means of escape. Five stories up, there was no fire escape or landing, probably removed to help protect the Safehouse. There had to be another way out.

Then he saw it. He grabbed the key out of his own room and quietly locked the door, then stole across the hall to the second bedroom, the one Jared had taken. It was adjacent to the next apartment. Closing that door he also locked it, and jammed a chair in front of the old cut glass doorknob. It wasn’t much and wouldn’t slow whatever was at the door for long, but it was something.

With the room as secure as he could make it, he rushed over to the wall bordering the neighboring flat and tapped quietly. He found the studs and kicked at the wall between them with his good leg. After one kick though, he had to stop, cursing his bare feet.

Casting around for a better tool, he grabbed the bedside lamp and snapped the base off across his knee. He now had an oak stake. He stabbed into the flaky plaster, plunging the stake repeatedly through the crumbling plaster and lath, quickly creating a series of holes through the wall and weakening the lath.

Jensen was unsurprised when something begin to kick and smash at the front door, confirming his worst fears. Working as quietly as he could, with a few more jabs at the wall, he’d loosened a chunk of plaster enough to smash all the way through the wall.

The front door gave as Jensen’s foot made it through. He could hear something kicking at his bedroom door across the hall, and then a roar of anger. The door to Jared’s bedroom started to shake and with two more powerful kicks Jensen cleared a path through the wall. He had barely wriggled through when he heard Jared’s bedroom door burst open.

Jensen gazed wildly around the neighboring apartment. A mirror to the safehouse, with a loping run he was out in the main hallway, dodging broken furniture and glass. The place was a sty. He got to the front door of the apartment as whatever was behind him roared and smashed it’s way through the wall behind him.

Jensen slammed the apartment door closed behind him, but it was too late. Something stopped him, grabbing the edge of the door, ripping it wide open. Jensen had already started running away down the hall, but that something grabbed him by the shoulder and backhanded him up against the hallway wall.

Momentarily stunned, it took him a moment to gather himself. Half dazed he reached automatically for his gun, then groaned when he realized he didn’t have it.

“Frak.” He swore softly as two Teeg advanced on him. He squinted and the two Teeg mercifully became one. Jensen blinked, as he recognized the one remaining Teeg from the market. Scrambling to his feet, Jensen met the Teeg head on, his fists up as he tried for a roundhouse punch. But the Teeg was too strong for him. He simply grabbed Jensen by the fist and slammed him back up against the wall again. Then his hand was at Jensen’s throat and he was being lifted bodily, off the ground. He gasped and sputtered, his arms grappling uselessly at the Teeg’s hand. The Teeg leaned closer, his blue-silver eyes glowing with menace.

The world was growing dark, and in his head, at least, Jensen was screaming Jared’s name. The band across Jensen’s chest tightened as he ran out of air. Darkness was creeping in on the edges of his vision and a deep voice ordered, “Sleep now, human. Sleep.”

: : :

_Jensen was back in the interview room, and he and Jared were talking. Jared was leaning casually against the interview table, his long legs crossed in front of him. They had been talking for a while, when Jared leaned down to whisper something in his ear. Jensen couldn’t quite make out what he said, and he leaned in closer, straining to hear what Jared had said. Jared moved, crouching in front of him. His large hands reached for his shoulders, and Jared shook him. Jensen could see his lips moving, but still couldn’t hear a word._

The shaking continued, and suddenly there was a loud, angry voice in his ear.

“Where is it?” The shaking persisted. “Where’s the data?”

The knot on Jensen’s head, where he had slammed against the wall, throbbed. He ground his teeth together to stop their rattling as he was shaken again. He couldn’t feel his hands or feet.

“What?” Jensen mumbled, seeing three of Jared in front of him. Maybe he had a concussion. He was so dizzy. He thought he might throw up.

“The data Qualls gave you. Where is it? Give it to me now before they get here.”

His vision finally cleared enough for him to see it was the black haired Teeg crouched in front of him. Jensen was slumped against the wall in the hallway of the safehouse, his hands and feet in stasis cuffs.

“Don’t have it, man.” Jensen’s voice sounded faint to his own ears.

“Then you know where it is. I tore Qualls’ lab apart. Everything was there except his notes and the final formula. He was supposed to bring them to me.”

“The Enforcer confiscated it.” Jensen’s head lolled back weakly now that the Teeg wasn’t shaking him. “Talk to someone more your own size.” His eyes started to drift shut, and he had to force himself to open them again. He was so sleepy. If this guy would only let him go back to sleep.

“You’re lying. You’re holding back.” The Teeg grabbed him up by the shirt, inhaling deeply through his broad lionesque nose. A slow smile began to spread across his face that didn’t reach the Teeg’s eyes.

Jensen’s heart ran cold as he watched the Teeg’s expression change. He narrowed his eyes and glared at the man, careful to keep up his best poker face. He’d be damned if he’d let his fear show to this outlander.

The Teeg only smiled wider. “You may not know anything, but you’ll be the perfect bait to get me what I want.”

Sickened at the idea of Jared coming to his rescue and falling into the Teeg’s hands, Jensen tried to distract the man. “Listen, I hate to tell you, but no one’s going to risk their ass saving me. And my Enforcer is due back at any moment.”

“I’m counting on it, human. Come on. They’ll be here soon.”

Jensen was tugged to his feet. He discovered his bound wrists and ankles had gone numb. He wobbled on pins and needles for a moment until the Teeg heaved him up onto his shoulder. He grunted as the Teeg’s shoulder blade drove into his gut. His bound arms dangled uselessly over the Teeg’s back. He wanted to fight, to kick, something, but he simply didn’t have the energy to do anything.

He forced his head up in time to catch a glimpse of the bedroom. Everything in his duffel was scattered across the floor. The bed was shredded, foam chunks were everywhere. As the Teeg started down the hall to the door, Jensen could see shattered glass across the floor in the kitchen.

It occurred to him belatedly that he should be screaming. He started to open his mouth, when the Teeg placed one big hand on the nape of Jensen’s neck and whispered, “Sleep.”

: : : ^^ Comments always appreciated 

 


	5. Worlds Collide

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](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/58502.html)

: : :

A moan of pain escaped his lips before he could bite it back. Disoriented, his head splitting, he clawed his way back to consciousness, only to find his chin slumped against his chest, his shoulders aching fire, and unforgiving metal cuffs cutting into his wrists. It was dark, and he was strangely upright, all his weight suspended from the cuffs on his wrists. The slow trickle of blood down his arms and the slimy wet feel of a brick wall against his bare back told him he wasn’t in Kansas anymore.

 

Bracing himself against the wall and the chains, he worked to get his legs back under him, gnawing at his lip as he struggled to regain his footing. The manacles shifted, cutting and tearing at scabbed flesh. Desperately, Jensen tried to hold back his screams and not alert his captor. What felt like hours later, he was finally standing on his own, barefoot on a wet concrete floor.

He tilted his head, listening. From somewhere outside, there was the sound of pouring rain, and here inside, wherever here was, water dripped steadily around him. The room was damp and cold on his too hot skin, and Jensen shivered.

He squinted trying to see through the gloom, but he finally realized it wasn’t the room that was dark. There was something over his eyes. He stood there teetering on tired legs for what seemed like hours, his heart pounding painfully against his ribs. Learning nothing new from the silence around him, he realized he had nothing more to lose, and took as deep a breath as his abused ribs would allow.

“Jared, Jared! Help! Anyone!”

Jensen’s voice echoed in the space.

Huh? His instincts kicked in. So, he was in a huge space, multileveled, from the sound of things, almost certainly abandoned. He couldn’t hear any city noise. This place was either well insulated, or far away from the bustle of the megacity. Or both. At long intervals, there was the faint rumble roar of the hover rail overhead. Inhaling deeply, Jensen tasted the bitter tang of salt water, so, definitely the industrial shorefront, or maybe even outside the city?

He jerked as the scrape of a metal chair far too close for comfort, alerted him to a presence nearby. “No one can hear you human. Not here anyway. But don’t worry, I’m sure help is coming. I’m counting on it.”

He recognized the voice of the Teeg who had attached him.

“Why are you doing this? What do you hope to gain? Wasn’t killing Qualls enough for you?”

“I didn’t kill him, the Skag did. I never wanted to kill the little human. I wanted him to stop his research. He was going to expose us, our weakness, to everyone. But he wouldn’t listen to my warnings.”

“It was you that sent him all those threats?” Jensen’s head pounded, he was shivering with cold, and all he wanted to do was slide back into unconsciousness. But, doggedly, he pushed through the pain. He needed to know more. “So, what do you want with me? I don’t know anything about his work, and I sure don’t have the data. I think you can see there’s nothing up my sleeves,” Jensen pulled uselessly at his too tight chains.

“You’re bait to get me what I want. I’m sure your mate will waste no time rushing here to save you. Once I have him, getting the data will be no problem.”

“Mate? I don’t have a mate. Maybe you were hit a little too hard on the head in that scuffle with the Skag. Unless I get a free comm call, I don’t see how the Enforcers are going to find me. Where the hell are we, anyway?”

The Teeg was suddenly pressed up against Jensen. He grabbed him by the hair, pulling his neck back painfully. “Don’t lie to me, human. I see his first mark on you. An abomination for one of my race to mate so far below their station, but I’ll fix that. First, though, we need to place that call you talked about.”

Jensen licked his lips, as fear spiked through him. Mate! No, there must be some other explanation, who would he be mated to? “Sure, give me a comm, I have a couple people in mind who would love to meet with you.”

“Not that kind of call, human. The call of blood and pain.” The Teeg stood back from Jensen, and he could hear a strange thwack as something swiped through the air in front of him. “It will echo across the bond, and bring your mate running to me. I can smell him all over you, even now. He will have the data.”

Jensen swallowed, his mind blanking out. The only person he had been with lately was Jared… But that didn’t make sense, Jared was human…

“I don’t…”

Thwack!

Jensen cried out in surprise and pain as something long and hard struck across his chest.

Thwack! Another blow crisscrossed the first catching his nipple, and Jensen recoiled, striking his head against the brick wall. The room spun sickeningly, and white, hot pain licked across his chest. Blood start to seep and trickle.

“Uh!”

Thwack! Thwack, Thwack! Strike after strike rained down on him, the cane, or stick, or whatever the hell the Teeg was using, left long narrow lines across his flesh. In an agonized daze, Jensen tried to twist away. There was no play in the chains so he could only roll from side to side, his flanks and chest exposed to the cutting blows. Jensen tried not to scream, not to give the Teeg the satisfaction, but hurt grunts sneaked past his lips as the beating continued.

“Jared...” the whispered plea was uttered with the last of Jensen’s strength. He lost his footing and slumped down against the wall, shivering as hot and cold lashes scoured his flesh.

The Teeg stepped in close.

Jensen whimpered. He could feel the man’s body heat next to him. Then a hand was on his jaw prying his mouth apart, and a water bottle was tipped against his lips. Jensen swallowed and coughed as the cold, clean water was poured down his throat, gasping and choking when he couldn’t keep up with the onslaught of liquid.

The bottle finally withdrew, but then the balance was dashed across Jensen’s chest, and he gasped, flinching at the shock. The Teeg leaned in, his voice strangely tender, “Easy now. This doesn’t need to be any worse than it has to be. Let the link do its job.” The Teeg ran his nails down Jensen’s chest, digging into the scoured flesh, and Jensen screamed.

: : :

The crack of lightning woke him. Through shredded vocal cords Jensen croaked out, “Jared? Jaaared!”

He wheezed at the effort, his whole body on fire. Blood trickled down his chest from a dozen wounds. Queasy and weak, he struggled to his feet once again. The Teeg had beaten Jensen twice, now. Jensen wasn’t sure how long it was between beatings. He always blacked out before they stopped. It was obvious the outlander wasn’t getting off on it, the beatings had been perfunctory, almost mechanical, and the Teeg offered no further explanation for his actions.

Jensen breathed in as deeply as his lacerated chest allowed, and clenched his teeth as he tried to reposition his arms. He winced as his shoulders moved, he couldn't tell, but they might be dislocated from supporting all his weight while he was unconscious. Sparks of pain lit up his body. “Suck it up Jensen,” he mumbled, his ears straining. The drip, drip, drip of water onto the concrete floor had been replaced by the rolling rumble of thunder and the steady drum of rain as it fell in sheets against the windows.

Jensen shivered in the chill and damp. He didn’t know what time it was, but the temperature was dropping steadily – of course that could be blood loss, or shock. He could die here of any number of things – shock, hypothermia, blood loss, a combination of some or all those things, from the beatings, or the cold. How the hell was a beating supposed to bring the Enforcer here, anyway? And what kind of trap would Jared be walking into? Jensen worried at his ravaged bottom lip. He didn’t want to be responsible for Jared walking into a trap on his account.

The sharp clang of metal on metal that echoed through the building, followed by the sound of an old elevator creaking to life, made Jensen’s heart clench in fear. He held his breath, maybe it was the Teeg returning. Maybe it wasn’t.

“Jared!” He screamed over the howling rain. “Jared! Jared, is that you?”

Panting from exertion, Jensen sagged against the wall. He struggled to gather his thoughts. He wasn’t sure if the Teeg was still here, but he’d never gone far while they'd been here. If this was Jared coming, he needed to be warned.

“Jared, watch out, he’s here. It’s a trap!”

The elevator groaned to creaking halt and the door clanked open as another loud crack of thunder rolled through the building.

“It’s a trap, a trap, It’s a trap.”

A dull thud and a grunt, and Jensen’s hopes fell. “Jared…no…”

Panic and dread made it hard to breathe as heavy footsteps approached. A stir of air and a groan of pain as a body dropped to the floor beside him with a wet splash. Rough hands at his face, pulled at his blindfold and suddenly the Teeg’s blue and silver eyes were staring into his.

 _No!_ Jensen’s heart sank. He didn’t want to look down.

“What kind of trickery is this? This is not your mate.” The Teeg snarled and stomped away, smashing an old oil drum with his fist.

Confused, his gut churning, Jensen blinked into the dim light as he watched the Teeg. Reluctantly Jensen focused on the body lying at his feet. In the darkness, he couldn’t see his face at first, but from the body type, it wasn’t Jared. The man was okay though, he was shaking his head and trying to rise onto his elbows off the wet floor. Jensen bit back the sob of relief as he recognized the black Enforcer uniform. Covertly, he glanced around. It meant Jared had to be here somewhere too.

As Jensen had suspected, he was in some kind of an abandoned warehouse. The ceilings were more than twelve feet in height, the with massive concrete columns spaced at intervals supporting the floor above. Lightning flashed, and for a second Jensen could make out the water, through the dirty or broken rank of windows high along the top of the walls. Tarp-covered or crated abandoned equipment was scattered in heaps and piles across the floor. Another flash of lightning, and he could make out, off to the left side of the floor, a massive elevator shaft.

No wonder the Teeg hadn’t been concerned about Jensen’s screams. There was no one around to hear in this vast, cavernous, obviously abandoned building. A stack of barrels and pallets formed a room-like shelter around them in the otherwise sprawling space.

So they were in an industrial building on the shoreline of the city. Jensen filed that away for possible use, later. Thunder continued to roll overhead, and Jensen could hear the rush of storm water off the roof through the pipes as it made its way to the street. In another series of lightning strikes, Jensen followed the line of his chains through the gloom. Looking up, his heart sank, they were looped over a metal girder overhead.

The Teeg stormed back to Jensen and grabbed him by the neck, forcing his head down so he had no choice but to look at the body slumped on the ground. “What kind of trickery is this?”

Jensen swallowed, and tried to shake his head in the Teeg’s unforgiving grip. He was saved from having to answer when the man looked up.

“I ain’t Jared, you waffle head, but you do have one pissed off black dude to contend with, now.” Williams glared up at the Teeg as he struggled to rise.

The Teeg shifted his grip and squeezed Jensen’s shoulder, his large palm coming down on some of the strike marks across his shoulders.

“Ughh.” Jensen crumpled, sagging in his chains at the renewed agony. Yet another flash of lightning, and a familiar voice spoke, close by.

“Take your hands off my mate.”

And Jared was there, crowding up behind the Teeg. The distinctive click of his pulse gun’s safety clicking off was strangely loud in the pouring rain.

Jared’s voice was icy. “Hands above your head. Careful now, you shouldn’t give me any more reason to blow your head off. Williams, you okay?”

The older Enforcer crawled to his feet, running his hand gingerly over the knot on the back of his head.

“This fraker cold-cocked me. I guess he didn’t count on my hard head.” Williams lopsided smile made Jensen want to laugh, but he hurt so badly, all he wanted to do was curl up and cry.

He watched dispassionately as Jared frisked his prisoner, pulling a fully charged pulse gun from the Teeg’s belt. Even in the gloom, he could make out Jared’s feral snarl when he found the key to Jensen’s chains. He placed the Teeg in stasis cuffs with his hands behind his back, and shoved him to the ground. “Kneel,” he growled.

Jared glanced at Williams, who was standing by then, still a bit zoned out, “You okay to watch him?”

“I got him, you go get your boy, there.” Williams rubbed his head again, and winced. He looked up and caught Jensen’s look of concern. He smiled and winked. “This old melon of mine is too hard for him to have done too much damage.”

Jensen snorted. Williams was a tough old bird.

“Who the hell are you, anyway?” Williams nudged the kneeling Teeg with his pulse gun.

“Te’var. My name is Prefect Te’var. Office of Reproduction.”

“You got an office of reproduction? We do it the old fashion way, ourselves, on our own.” Williams smirked. The Teeg, Te’var’s, features twisted in distaste.

Jared started unlocking Jensen’s chains, and Jensen sagged into Jared’s arms as the first cuff came free. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth against the pain from his various wounds while Jared freed the other hand.

“Damn bastard got me everywhere with his cane.” Jensen saw the bloody cane lying at his feet, and kicked it off to the side. “I feel like I’ve been flayed. And what the frak is this mate business? Once we get the frak out of here, you and I need to have a serious talk.”

Jared huffed out a relieved breath and nodded, “After.” He helped Jensen to the lone chair in the vicinity, across from the kneeling Teeg. Jensen winced as he sat down. Blood trickled from his many wounds.

Jared surveyed the damage inflicted on Jensen’s body and his expression hardened. He swiveled on his heel and stalked toward their prisoner. “So, what possible justification could you have for kidnapping and torturing PI Ackles? What kind of actions are those for a Prefect?” Jared’s voice was cold, and menacing in a way Jensen hadn’t heard before, not even during his own interrogation.

“As I told your mate, it’s the information I want. It can’t fall into the wrong hands, even a _fachaz_ half breed, like you should understand.” The Teeg spit on the ground in disdain.

“ _Ta-shak!_ Prefect.” Jared growled in Teegan. “We don’t even know for sure yet what Qualls was doing.”

“The human _ha-jeeg_ was trying to destroy what is left of our race. He had to be stopped.”

Williams whistled in appreciation, “Sounds like an admission of guilt to me. Just sayin’. Think I should Mirandize him? Or would I just be spinning my wheels? Teeg always get off, anyway. I say we shoot him. He had a gun!” Williams shrugged, unapologetically.

Jared had started to open his mouth when a pulse blast ricocheted off the wall behind Jensen’s head. Jared dove for cover, dragging Jensen down with him behind the nearby pile of metal drums.

“What the hell’s goin’ on, now?” Williams grumbled, pulling his own weapon, and crouching as he scanned the warehouse floor. His free hand grabbed the Teeg by the scruff of the neck, and with surprising strength, pulled the bound prisoner to cover behind a pile of debris opposite Jared and Jensen’s position. Figures were moving in the darkness, a lot of them. Pulse bolts from a variety of angles were directed at them.

“Looks like we’re not the only ones after your boy, here.” Williams looked at Jared. “Who the hell else has he pissed off?”

“It’s the Skags.” Te’var quietly volunteered. “They’ve been on my trail since the fight in Skag Town. They’re after the data, too. If they get hold of it, it will mean the end of our race. Give me my pulse gun. I can help even the odds.”

Jared’s brow wrinkled as he considered the Teeg’s words. He tried his comm. “They’re blocking the signal.” He shot a look at Williams.

“We don’t have too many options, man.” A sudden lightning flash illuminated too many green-scaled figures creeping toward them through the darkness. “There seems to be a whole clutch of them.” Williams ducked suddenly as another pulse blast almost caught him in the head. “And they got damn good aim!” He rubbed at his neck, sheepishly.

Jared crept across the floor, careful to keep behind the thin layer of protection the pallets and metal drums supplied, and made his way to the kneeling Teeg. He pulled the confiscated pulse gun from his belt and crouched down beside the Prefect to loosen his stasis cuffs. “You so much as twitch the end of that pulse gun the wrong way, and I’ll kill you myself.” Even in the dim light, Jensen could see Jared’s expression was grim.

Te’var nodded, and knelt up at the pallet of bricks to take aim at the advancing Skags.

A sibilant voice echoed through the building, “Sssssurrender, Te’Var, we have you sssurrounded. All we want isss the data. We know your human hasss it. Give it over, and we’ll let you live.”

“A tempting offer, if I actually believed you. Come a step closer so I can blast the scales off your ugly hide.” The Prefect yelled back, firing as something tried to slither closer.

Jensen glanced over the stack of empty oil drums. As more lightning strikes illuminated the floor, he did a quick count of the figures moving in the darkness.

“There’s a lot of them, and it looks like they're trying to box us in. You got an extra weapon on you for me, too?” Jensen quirked a brow at Jared, and he could have swore the Enforcer’s eyes glowed with pride.

“Yeah. Here.” Jared crawled back to Jensen and pulled his backup piece from an ankle holster. He passed the weapon to him.

“You sure you’re steady enough?” Jared asked, his hand pausing to rest gently on Jensen’s back.

Jensen shivered at the heat Jared’s simple contact sparked through him. “I’m not dead yet, Jared, in spite of that bastard’s best efforts.” Jensen sent a baleful glance toward the Prefect as pulse blasts lit up the darkness around them. “Let’s take some of these scaly assholes down.”

Their little group set up a steady wall of repulsing fire. Jensen grinned each time he saw a shot connect, or heard a grunt of pain. It was only a matter of time, though, they were steadily losing ground to the Skags’ greater numbers.

Jensen swore and looked at the Enforcer. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Jare, but I think there’s still at least twenty of them out there. They must want that data bad. Tell me you don’t actually have it on you?”

At the sheepish duck of Jared’s head, Jensen groaned.

“Seriously? You brought it with you?” Jensen rolled his eyes. “But you couldn’t remember my Clougar? Seriously?”

“I couldn’t risk him killing you," Jared's gaze was serious. “I could already sense your pain through the bond.”

“Yeah, and about that. Since when are we linked? Wait, don’t even start. I’ll only get mad. We need to get both our asses out of here in one piece before I can safely kick yours.”

“Umm. Yeah, that might be a better idea.”

William’s terse whisper from the other side of their makeshift barricade halted their squabble. “Boys, I hate to interrupt the little family bickering, but my pulse battery is getting low. We gotta do something soon, or we’re screwed.”

Jensen checked his own piece, and there was only ten percent charge left. He chewed on his lip, glancing around the warehouse. He grinned when he spotted something on the far side of the building.

He tugged on Jared’s sleeve to get his attention. “Jared, listen, these old warehouses are like the tenements I grew up in.There’s the central elevator, at least two stairwells, which our friends have neatly covered, but there are usually also emergency fire escapes on either side of the building. I can barely make out the one on the other side of that group of Skags on the right, so that means we should have one somewhere on our side, just to the left of us. If we can clear a path to it, I bet your comm would work outside. And the narrow stairs would also limit how many of them they can throw at us at once.”

“Where do you think the fire escape is?” Jared peered into the darkness. “I don’t see a doorway.”

“No, it would probably be a window. Wait, there. See the glint off the broken emergency exit sign? That’s it.”

“Okay, everyone, listen up.” Williams and Te’var looked to Jared. “Jensen’s found us a way outside through a fire escape. We’ve got to make a run for it. Jensen and Williams will go first, then Te’var. I’ll bring up the rear. Williams, as soon as you’re clear of the building, try your comm. Hopefully you’ll be able to get through.”

Williams nodded, and helped Jensen to his feet.

“Once we’re outside, we can figure out whether it’s safer to go up, or down.”

Jared checked his fuel cell levels, and grimaced. “I’ll lay down covering fire, but keep shooting as you move. They’re all over that side of the building.”

“I should stay to the end. I’m a liability to you all right now.” Jensen protested, leaning heavily on Williams.

“You’re the whole reason I came here, Jensen. If you don’t go, I’m not going either, so move it, Ackles. Someone needs to survive this.”

Williams picked off another Skag and glanced over his shoulder at Jared. “Would you two save it for later?”

“Go,” Jared growled, shoving Jensen forward.

Hunched down, Jensen and Williams started to run toward the exit. They took turns, taking cover, and shots at the advancing Skags whenever they could. A Skag flung himself out of the darkness at Williams, and only Jensen’s quick aim put it down before its claws could gut the Enforcer. The Skag’s body collapsed on top of Williams, knocking the wind out of him, stunning him briefly as he was slammed to the floor. As Jensen worked to heave the heavy Skag body off of Williams, he glanced back to see Jared and Te’var in a heated discussion.

Grimacing in pain, Williams regained his feet. “I think the damn thing cracked a couple of my ribs. Got to keep moving, boy. Jared will be fine. No pulse gun's gonna take down that moose.”

Nodding, Jensen focused on the exit and fired at anything that poked its spiny head out.

Williams kicked apart the wood planks covering the window under the exit sign while Jensen covered them, and they both clambered out onto the metal landing, into the pouring rain.

Blaster shots whizzed through the metal grating from below, narrowly missing them. Jensen glanced down through the rain and saw at least three hulking shapes climbing up toward them.

“I guess we’re going up. Up!” Williams yelled through the storm.

Williams tried to push Jensen up the ladder, but he hung on stubbornly. “But, Jared?”

“I can see him, he’s on his way, MOVE!”

“Station, this is Enforcer Williams, come in.” Williams yelled into his comm as they climbed. “Station, this is Enforcer Williams. I have a 1206 in progress, need immediate assist.”

The crackling sound of the dispatcher’s voice sounded like it was coming from the moon.

Jensen looked back as Williams swore. “Damn jammer is still working out here. We’ve got to get the roof. I’ve set my comm to keep repeating the transmission. Maybe they got some of that message, but we can’t assume anything.”

A roar of anger from below had both men looking down. Jensen watched as a Skag was heaved bodily off the fire escape by Jared. Its tail lashed furiously as it fell to the pavement below, and hit with a sickening crunch. Williams leaned out and fired. A second Skag trying to sneak up on Jared fell to the ground.

“Keep climbing!” Williams yelled.

A few more blast pulses back and forth, and another Skag crumpled onto one of the landings. Jensen looked down to see Jared taking the rungs up two at a time. Letting out a shaky breath, he heaved his aching body over the edge and onto the roof. He climbed laboriously to his feet and stood there shivering in the rain. He was so cold, now, it was an effort of will to stay conscious.

Williams slumped down next to him as he tried another channel. When Jared joined them, Jensen glanced behind him. “Where’s the Prefect?”

Jared shook his head. “He stayed behind to give me more time. Said it was penance for losing sight of what was right. I–”

Whatever Jared was about to say was interrupted by the crackle of Williams comm.

“Enforcer Williams this is Dispatch. How may we assist?”

“By getting your asses down here, stat. We are under attack. I repeat, we are under attack by unknown number of Skag forces.”

“Roger, Enforcer. Units are on their way. ETA five minutes.”

Jared leaned out over the edge of the building. Blue pulse blasts whipped past his head and he quickly ducked back.

“So I guess we’re expecting company?” Jensen quipped. The lightning was giving way to an onslaught of rain that made it hard to see. Jensen’s teeth chattered. The cane marks on his chest burned, while the rest of him was icy cold.

“Here, take this.” Jared was beside him, peeling off his black Enforcer jacket and handing it to Jensen. Jensen was too cold to protest. He needed help to slip his shaking arms into the still body-warm sleeves of the jacket. Jared pulled him in close, his chest pressed against Jensen's back, hand on his shoulder as they peered into the darkness.

“Over there, we should be able to hold out there until help arrives.” Jared pointed at the vague outline of a structure.

As they came closer Williams muttered, “How the heck did you even see this from back there. Looks like an old greenhouse.”

Jared had his arm under Jensen’s shoulder to help carry some of his weight. Jensen leaned on him gratefully, panting with exertion by the time they got to the building.

Even in the darkness they could make out the spiny outlines as Skags boiled up over the roofline. The outlanders advanced on them through the downpour, their white, razor like fangs gleaming in the darkness.

Huddled in the broken down building they watched the Skag approach.

“Smash out your windows. Try and keep them from fanning out.” Jared ordered before he leaned in and took Jensen’s chin in his hand and tipped it up toward him.

Jared’s breath was warm on his face, and Jensen’s eyes fluttered closed as the Enforcer’s lips pressed gently, innocently against his. Jensen clutched at Jared’s large body, pulling him in close. When he looked up, Jared’s eyes burned golden hazel in the darkness.

“Don’t give up on us yet.” Jared whispered before he kissed Jensen on the forehead. “You still need to kick my ass later.”

They each took aim at the Skag closest them. Jared’s weapon ran out first. “Frak!” Jared grabbed up a steel beam lying on the ground in preparation for hand-to-hand. Williams' pulse weapon clicked empty, next. Jensen kept firing.

A speaker enhanced voice boomed over the storm. “Humanssss Ssstopp! We have you sssurounded. Give usss the datassstick and we’ll let you go. We know you huuumanssss ssshare no love of the Teeg.”

Jensen looked at Jared, “We need to destroy the data.”

Jared dug the data stick out of his pocket and looked at it thoughtfully, before he wrapped his fist tightly around it. “What if it isn’t what we think? What if I give it to them so they let you live?”

“Yeah, I’m all for that.” Williams piped in.

“Jared, whatever this is, it’s strong enough stuff for two races to kill over. Do you really want the Skag to get hold of anything that could be used against the Teeg? I don’t think we have a choice. I don’t think the three of us are worth a whole race dying over.”

Jensen grabbed Jared by the arm. “Now Jared! Destroy it now.”

Jared shook his head, “No….Trust me.”

Jared held his hand out to Jensen and gave it a soft squeeze before he released it.

Jared stood and shouted at the Skags, “Stop, or I’ll destroy the data.”

“You don’t threaten usssss, huuuman. We are calling the sssshots.”

A tall, thin Skag pushed in front of the group of lizard men and advanced on the little huddle of humans.

“If you want this so badly, you won’t risk it being destroyed,” Jared said simply, and dropped the data stick on the ground. “One more step, and I grind it under my heel.”

The Skag put up his hands in an attempt to placate. “Let’sss not be too hasssty. All we want issss the data. No one needssss to be hurt.”

“My friends go free, then I give you the data and you let me go.” Jared was stonefaced as he stared out the broken greenhouse windows at the Skag.

“No Jared. I won’t let you.” Jensen grabbed again at his arm.

“That issss acceptabbble to usss.”

“When they reach the street and comm me that they are safe, I’ll hand you the datastick.” Jared’s voice was implacable.

“You sure ‘bout this, Jare?” Williams asked.

Jared nodded and Williams started to steer Jensen away. Jensen pulled his arm away and stood to face Jared.

“Jared, you can’t.” He whispered. Jared shook his head and cupped Jensen’s jaw in his hand and looked into his eyes.

“Jensen, my mate. It’s the only way. I have to see you safe. Please, do this for me. I- Morgan will tell you the truth of all of this if I don’t make it out of here. Just please…go.”

Williams tugged again on Jensen’s arm, and this time he reluctantly accepted his help in limping to the fire escape. The last thing Jensen saw was Jared standing alone, surrounded by Skag as he and the older Enforcer climbed down to safety.

: : : ^^ Comments always appreciated 

 


	6. Worlds Collide

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](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/58128.html)

: : :

After a very slow and careful climb down, Williams comm’d Jared.

“We’re clear, big guy. Do what you have to do.”

“I slipped him my pulse gun before we left.” Jensen confessed

“You think I didn’t spot that?” Williams rolled his eyes. “There’s only one hope now.”

 

Jensen had enough time to wonder if it was only his imagination that he could sense Jared’s nervousness, or if it was real, and part of this mysterious _link_ they somehow shared.

There was a blinding flash of white light, and Jensen’s heart dropped to his feet… _Jared!_

He stared up as the flash faded into darkness. Sound roared around him, but he was numb, he could no longer sense Jared.

Williams let out a whoop and slapped his knee. “Damn straight.” He cried.

Jensen blinked at him in disbelief. Williams was talking, but Jensen couldn’t hear him. Finally, over the roaring in his ears he could read the man’s lips. “Freeze bombs, Jensen! They dropped freeze bombs, the Enforcers got here in time. That’s what you saw. Jared’s still alive.”

: : :

Broaching no argument, the Enforcer’s staff of MT’s whisked Jensen away to their private hospital to treat his wounds, tutting over the multiple lacerations in his flesh. In next to no time, he was floated on a med bed into triage, quickly and efficiently divested of his clothing, and wrapped in the ubiquitous paper thin white gown which hospitals galaxies wide seemed to rely on. A small army of tall, broad-shouldered Teeg clustered around, scanning him, touching his multihued hair, testing his blood, and analyzing his wounds with small handheld devices. There were expressions of both disapproval and shock on many of their faces.

After talking amongst themselves in rapidfire Teegan, of which Jensen could only grasp a word or two, they stared down at him in silent reproach. None moved a finger to touch him.

“Don’t want to treat me? That’s fine with me. Show me the way out of here and I’ll find a human doctor to patch me up. Never expected anything from you bastards anyway,” Jensen growled weakly, and tried to raise himself up on the bed to leave. But a wave of dizziness landed him on his back again.

A golden haired Teeg MT with blue and yellow streaks in his hair shouldered his way next to Jensen’s bed and, with a disapproving scowl, snarled orders that sent the horde of Teeg MTs away. Once they had departed, the Teeg pressed a button and a translucent frosted white wall appeared around the bed. Shadowy shapes from the busy emergency ward were still visible, but the noise and the bustle of the ward was muffled. Jensen gazed up at the newcomer in surprise.

“PI Ackles I am Jocksym, I will be your carer for this visit. Forgive my colleagues, many are ill mannered and narrow minded. Just because we have never met a human mated to a Teeg before doesn’t mean they don’t exist or they shouldn’t be cared for as our own. If it is all right with you, I will go ahead and treat your wounds. They must be painful for you.”

Jensen nodded, speechless for a moment as Jocksym called up a white disc about the size of the base of Jensen’s old hover scooter. The disc floated over to his bed and started to make several passes back and forth across his chest and arms. As the device moved slowly over him, it emitted a pale blue light. Jensen watched, wide eyed, and after only three passes, all signs of the beating had disappeared and the pain was gone.

Jensen touched his chest in wonder. He knew Teeg medicine was advanced, but this was something else.

“Are you are aware your right leg has healed incorrectly PI Ackles? It appears to be quite an old injury and must be quite painful, by the amount of damage I have detected. Would you like us to heal that as well, while you are here? It may hurt a little. Though the facial scarring is a minor matter to fix, and quickly done." The, Teeg, asked solicitously.

Self-conscious, Jensen’s hand went to the livid scar on his face. It, like his crippled leg, had been a part of him for so long he had never held out any hope of being able to afford treatment. Suspicious, he started to shake his head. “I don’t think I can afford to pay for something like that.”

Jocksym only smiled gently, “No charge, I assure you.”

“Is this because I’m supposedly the mate of the Enforcer? Of Padalecki?” Jensen saw red, and imagined steam could be visible shooting out his ears, as he got ready to refuse the treatment on principle alone.

Trying to hide his obvious surprise, the MT shook his head, “No, sir, our new policy dictates that any species that is hurt is entitled to treatment. The news, about you and the Enforcer bonding is certainly fascinating. It was one of the possible side effects of long term occupation of the planet. We will of course need to study the physical changes that will manifest in a Teeg/Human bonding. We will have to set up a follow-up appointment, and further assess the repercussions to your health requirements.”

Stunned, Jensen could only nod.

Smiling, the Teeg brought out a pair of small discs, a bit smaller than an old fashioned football. He gently bent Jensen’s good leg out of the way, moving his foot back, keeping it flat against the table until the heel was pushed up against the cheek of his ass. Then he positioned the two devices in parallel over the injured leg, scanning up and down in tandem, from kneecap to ankle. After the initial scan, Jocksym studied the results on his comm and took a silver cylinder out and used it to spray something over Jensen’s leg. The skin tingled for a moment, then went numb. “There should be minimal pain, PI Ackles, but the sounds may be distressing. This shouldn’t take long.” The Teeg patted his arm companionably.

Jensen took a deep breath and nodded. The Teeg pressed a button on a small control unit and the disc continued to make slow passes, up and down Jensen’s leg, this time emitting the healing pale blue light.

Jensen grimaced as his bones cracked and re-knit, the sound akin to crinkling foil. There was only a slight tingle, but the grating sounds alone had the taste of bile rising on his tongue. Jensen had to swallow repeatedly to avoid throwing up all over the suddenly helpful MT.

Finally, the scanning stopped, along with the pain from the old injury, and Jensen opened eyes he hadn’t realized he’d squeezed shut. Jocksym made several passes with an even smaller disc along the right side of Jensen’s face, and then announced, “There, PI Ackles, we are finished. Your leg should work normally now and your wounds are healed, but call me immediately if you experience any pains or side effects, I’ve already sent my contact information to you and your mate.”

Jocksym helped Jensen to sit up and patted his leg. “If you want, next time we could take care of that strange bow in your legs? I’ve seen it documented before in human medical texts, but never seen a case in person. Quite curious.” The Teeg wore a bemused smile. “I suggest you get some rest, now. It will be several hours, before your mate awakens.”

Jensen licked his lips and asked, “Could I go see him? Check out that he’s alright?”

The MT shook his head. “is in isolation. It will take time for him to recover from the freeze bombs that brought down a half dozen Skag caught in the blast. After he is fully awake, an Enforcer will see you both safely home.” The MT bowed his head slightly and pressed a button, and a door sized opening appeared in the frosted walls. The noise of the Trauma Center invaded the space and as the MT left, Jensen could see some of the other ‘doctors’ or nurses staring into his cubicle in disapproval.

Jensen sat on the med table, stunned, staring at his new leg. If they wouldn’t let him see Jared, there was nothing really holding him here. He couldn’t sense Jared at all through the bond, so he could only take the MTs word that he was okay. He couldn’t stand hanging around here in this room for hours, while Teeg MTs glared at him from outside his little fishbowl. Frak that. The danger was over now anyway, there was nothing preventing him from heading home.

Home. Jensen swallowed, what did that even mean now? What was he to Jared, and what was Jared to him? His heart clenched at the thought of maybe never seeing the Enforcer again. But really, what did they have in common?

He glanced around the small space in search of his clothes and was sliding off the hover bed to test out his newly healed leg when Williams arrived at the door to collect him.

“There you are. They took you away so fast I had a heck of a time finding you.” Williams cast about the room and grabbed up the still wet jeans and Jared’s jacket Jensen had been brought in wearing. “Morgan wants me to escort you to a new safehouse.”

Jensen’s eyebrow rose, in disbelief. “I thought I could go home. It’s all over now.”

Williams shrugged, “Morgan doesn’t seem to think so, and he and Jared both will tear me a new one if I let you out of my sight. Listen, I sent a cruiser over to the old safehouse to collect some of your things. We can either wait for them to come here with your stuff, or I jailbreak you now and we get out of here with what you’ve got.”

Jensen pulled a face. The thought of climbing back into his soiled and wet clothing was more than a little distasteful, but he wanted out of the Teeg stronghold yesterday. “Yeah, let’s get the hell out of here.”

Williams grinned. “I thought you’d say that. I grabbed a pair of my sneakers out of the trunk, they’ll do to get you to the cruiser, at least. Come on, get dressed. I’m starving, and the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we eat.”

Jensen’s stomach grumbled on cue, and he reluctantly pulled on his jeans over his tissue thin gown.

 

Jensen said very little as he sat beside Williams in the cruiser, but his mind was going a million miles a second. When they stopped outside the new safehouse, Jensen paused from long habit, before getting out, to rub at his knee.

The shock of everything that had happened was starting to wear off, and anger was quickly taking its place – anger at the Teeg, their technology, and their benign neglect. He’d been just a little kid, he'd lost his home and his parents and baby sister and was left badly injured and hurting--all in one day. Somehow surviving, because they hadn't cared enough to finish killing off his family by killing him. Having to deal with all that loss on his own, and the physical pain and disability on top of everything else. He had dealt with it, though. For twenty-five years. He'd survived, and not only survived, he'd made something of himself. And ‘now' they cured him? Like an afterthought? As though it was nothing? Well, he guessed it was nothing, for those who had that power. That little boy sure could have used some of that healing power twenty-five years ago. But he would by damn take a sound leg over one that hurt and made his life harder, even years late, a benefit of the conquerors' whim, a change in official policy.

 

It was Jared's betrayal that cut deepest, though. To discover that not only was the man not human, as he appeared, but that by some cruel twist of fate he had been _mated_ to him, without Jensen’s consent or knowledge? Jensen seethed.

He followed Williams into the apartment, “There'll be extra units posted outside, just in case, but we should be safe. Oh, and pick any room you’d like. Opps tells me your bag should be dropped off shortly. Jared should be awake in a couple of hours, and he’ll be right over if I know him. I’ll go order up something to eat. Is Chinese okay with you?”

Jensen stared at Williams, his fists clenching and unclenching as rage twisted inside him. Rather than say something he would regret, Jensen stomped into the nearest bedroom and slammed the door in the old Enforcer’s bewildered face.

He threw Jared’s still sodden jacket on the floor and swept into the bathroom. Every step on his newly healed leg mocked him. He stared at his face in the mirror, and for a moment it was like looking at a stranger. Eyes wide, he ran his hand in wonder down the now unscarred side. The scar that had marked him for twenty-five years, gone, and his features changed dramatically from tough and dangerous to an almost too pretty, arresting masculine beauty. Jensen’s mouth tightened in anger as his gazed caught on the green and gold streaks in his hair, a visible reminder that Jared had lied to him pretty much since the beginning.

Showered and freshly shaven, Jensen stalked back into the bedroom naked. He was angrily debating the merits of getting back into his dirty, wet clothing or trying to wash them, when he saw his duffel on the floor inside the door. Jensen snatched it up, grateful for the change of clothes. He rifled through the bag. Some of his clothes were shredded and he was sure he had Te’var to thank for that, but most were none the worse for wear.

He jerked on a pair of sleep pants and sat wearily on the edge of the bed, suddenly deflated as his rage leaked out of him. He wanted nothing more than to go back home, close his broken door and hide for a week. He debated the wisdom of slipping past Williams and heading back to his own apartment, but finally gave up on the idea as the full weight of the last few days started to descend on him. Suddenly weary, his head throbbing, Jensen decided he was too tired right now to do anything other than sleep. He sprawled on the bed and was gone in seconds.

 

 

There was a veritable wall of heat next to him. Grumbling in his sleep, Jensen rolled onto his belly and kicked at the blankets that weren’t covering him. Fuzzily, he opened his eyes and became aware of a warm, tingling presence that ran along the left side of his body…Jared.

The man was like a giant furnace. Jared murmured something in his sleep and snuggled closer. Jensen tried to hang on to his anger, his rage, but it melted away as Jared’s arm reached out in his sleep to reel Jensen in closer, the touch skin to skin sent a spark of arousal through Jensen, but more than that, a sense of comfort and security. He wasn't sure why Jared’s touch felt like home, but it did.

Jensen signed in defeat as Jared snuffled up against him. He had to fight with himself not to weaken and curl in closer, and he stared resignedly up at the ceiling, certain he was only denying himself. His initial rage had cooled, but the hurt at Jared's betrayal still lingered in Jensen’s heart. The thought of giving Jared up hurt even worse. He didn’t sleep for a long time.

: : :

Jensen sensed someone watching him.

He blinked owlishly as he tried to wake up. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around. Jared was leaned up on one elbow observing him.

“G’morning.” Jared murmured.

Jensen blinked again, there was something different about Jared that Jensen couldn’t quite put his finger on. Then it came to him, and Jensen’s mind sputtered to a stop. Green and gold streaks now highlighted Jared’s chestnut locks.

Amused eyes sparkled at him as they watched his reaction, the green and gold flecks in Jared’s eyes glowed and seemed to move on their own, hypnotizing. Without thinking, Jensen reached up and ran his hand through Jared’s silky hair.

“So it’s true. You are a Teeg.” Jensen couldn’t stop the hurt in his voice from showing.

All trace of amusement left Jared’s face and he looked down, his hand absently playing with the sheet beneath him.

“Jensen, it’s not quite like that.”

“Then what is it like, Jared? You lied to me. You ‘mated me’ whatever that means, without me even knowing. What do I do with that?”

“I-I didn’t know for sure myself until it was too late. Maybe it was always too late. I’m not a full blooded Teeg, Jensen, I don’t know half what they do instinctively. I’m a half-breed.” Jared’s gaze stayed pinned resolutely to the bedcovers, his head hanging, misery in every line of his body.

Jensen’s eyes widened in surprise. A half-breed. “How is that even possible?”

Jared shrugged, his large hand still distractedly petting the blanket beneath him. “I don’t know, I don’t think they even thought it was possible. All I know is I’m not like them, but I’m not quite like you either.” Jared whispered.

“So how do you know we’re even mated? How do Teeg mate?” Jensen groaned and rubbed his eyes, rolling to lie on his back. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m asking this.”

“I’ve worked with Teeg, and gone to school with them for years, now, and still I’ve only picked up a smattering. I felt the _Shinkara_ , the stirring, when we met at detention that first day. When you started the _Fadar_ , the heat, I knew we had somehow bonded. Teeg don’t choose their mates, Jensen, their bodies do. When you meet your fated mate, your body tells you. You go into heat, and your body blazes with need. It’s unstoppable.”

Jensen swallowed hard, he remembered the arousal he’d felt every time Jared touched him. It had been a burning, all consuming need – and if Jared had felt that, too? Even now, with Jared lying so close to him Jensen’s skin sparked.

“When we finally consummated, when I claimed you, I gave you my DNA, the _Shintay_ , the sharing. Your scent altered to a blend with mine to become part of my Pride.”

“With full blooded Teeg, a visual signal of that final bond is that each mate swaps one of their _Trellis_ , one of the strips of color in their hair for the other's. You presented with both of my hair colors, I can only assume, because you had none of your own.” Jared shrugged.

Jensen touched his hand to his head. It was all making some kind of terrible sense.

“That finalized the bond and opened the _Jadara_ the link. Every mated pair shares a bond with each other that allows them to sense each other’s feelings, to greater or lesser degrees. It’s not mind reading, more like empathy. The link lets you sense your mate even across long distances. That’s how I was able to track you. It was also how Te’var knew. He could literally smell me or at least ‘a Teeg,’ on you, and as a full-blood, he could sense our bond. He used your pain to lure me to you, but even without that, I would have been able to find you eventually. The pain only amplified your signal.”

Jared stared resolutely at the blankets. “I am so sorry it took so long to find you. Williams and I scoured the sector, each of your ‘sessions’ with Te’var brought us closer to your location.

Jensen reached out and tilted Jared’s chin, forcing the Enforcer to look at him. The simple touch sent a sliver of warmth through Jensen’s fingertips, and his hand trembled. “So you knew, you knew what was happening to me, and you left me in the dark?” he whispered, gazing at Jared’s face. His voice was weirdly soft to his ear and he was sure Jared could sense the hurt radiating off him through the bond.

Jared closed his eyes and twisted away from Jensen’s touch, sitting on the side of the bed. “I’ve been hiding for a long time, Jensen, running away from the Teeg side of my heritage. Since I was a child, my mother thought it would be safer that way. No one except Morgan, an old friend of my mother’s, even knew what I was. I’ve colored my hair, worn contacts, done everything I could do to be perceived as human. My Teeg parent abandoned my mother after she became pregnant. Diluting the blood lines is looked down on by the Teeg. He would have been fully within his rights, by Teeg law, to get rid of me.”

Jensen didn’t move, tried not to breathe. He could feel the shame and fear shedding off his mate in waves, through the bond. Jensen remembered the looks of disgust in the Trauma Center and his gut roiled at the thought of a lifetime of that kind of disapproval. Anger welled up in him at the thought of Jared being hurt like that, and he had to force himself to concentrate on what Jared was saying next.

“It was only thanks to my mother's influence at the UN, and her very wealthy parents, that I was able to go undiscovered for so long, They even went so far as to find me scent suppressants when I reached puberty.”

“But I can smell you!” Jensen blurted out.

Jared snorted softly, dimples appearing in his cheeks, “It must be the bond. What do I smell like to you?” Jared turned to face him and Jensen’s breath hitched at the vulnerability in Jared’s features.

“Like gummy bears, and cinnamon, and fine leather,” Jensen smiled. His eyes crinkled at the edges. “So, how did you end up getting so close to the Teeg, if you were trying to stay on the down low?”

Jared laughed bitterly and bit his lip. He dropped his head again and Jensen held his breath, waiting for Jared's answer.

“It turned out I was gifted. So I was sent to the advanced school with Teeg children. I always stood apart. Although they were kind, I always knew I wasn’t one of them, but I wasn’t human either. I felt there was nowhere that was home for me. So I hid in plain sight.”

A part of Jensen ached to reach out and comfort his mate – to pull Jared in close, and show him he had a home with Jensen, but he only closed his eyes, doggedly hanging onto his anger, his betrayal. He needed to get this out in the open or he knew it would fester inside him forever.

“But when you were sure, you had lots of opportunity, you could have told me.”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t want me because I’m part Teeg. They killed your family, how could you ever love something that was a part of that? I thought maybe, if we fucked, that I could work you out of my system. Then, that night, I couldn’t control myself. I had to have you, make you mine. And you are, and now you hate me.”

A shudder wracked Jared’s frame as he spoke. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, and you can hate me and leave me. I won’t try to stop you, but I can’t regret making you mine, if only for that night.”

Jensen had always prided himself on being honest, honest with himself and with others. He stared down into Jared’s face and saw true regret.

He thought about his life as it stood. He was comfortable, sure, but to Jared’s eyes he was sure it seemed pretty grim. He wasn’t really sure what Jared was offering, what ‘mate’ meant, but it wasn’t like he had any better options, nor was he likely to have any. And it wasn’t that he didn’t like Jared, hell the man had saved his life. And it wasn't the least factor that it couldn't be denied that Jared was hot as sin. Jensen knew he was attracted to him, the man made his skin spark. He just wasn’t sure if he “loved” Jared.

There was just this small niggling part of him that wanted what he remembered his parents having. That wanted to be loved. It all made his head hurt. All he knew right now was didn’t like to see Jared hurting, and maybe that could be enough, for now.

“I don’t hate you, Jared.” He turned the big man in his arms and knelt up on the bed beside him, looking into his glowing eyes. “I have to be honest, I’m not sure if I love you, but I know I don’t want to leave you either. You matter to me, and you make me feel like I matter. I’ve wanted you from the first day I saw you, and I can’t quit you, Jared Padalecki. I can’t say I’m happy with the way you went about this, but maybe we could try this for a while, see where it leads. Would you be okay with that?”

Jared looked at him in shock and grateful surprise, and pulled Jensen into his arms. “I am more than okay with that, Jensen Ackles, more than happy with that.”

Jared’s eyelids closed to mere slits when Jensen’s lips touched his. The kiss was so tender, it made something inside Jensen hurt. Jared’s hands crept around Jensen’s waist, pulling him in closer, setting Jensen’s skin to tingling where bare skin touched bare skin.

Jensen gasped, his mouth opening wider, hunger for more raged through him. Jared purred and the sound was like pure fire roaring through Jensen’s veins. Jared’s tongue started to plunge in out of Jensen’s mouth as he nipped and kissed at Jensen’s lips, the taste, the very scent of him intoxicating.

Jensen moaned and panted as Jared’s fingers roamed over his body. He squirmed in pleasure as Jared started to kiss and lick a line down Jensen’s neck, the scratch of his stubble sending a shiver along his skin. He arched back, a needy cry torn from his lips when Jared’s teeth grazed over his mark on Jensen’s neck. A shock of pure lust bolted through him as Jared laved at his mark and a rumbling purr started to come from his lips. Jensen never wanted this to end, but his cock was fat and straining in his pants, and he wanted Jared in him now.

When Jensen reopened his eyes, Jared’s eyes were glowing again in the darkness. “Jensen, I want, I need…”

Incapable of speech, Jensen simply nodded.

Jared helped him squirm out of his sleep pants. He blinked and Jared was naked too, laying him down on the bed, his arms braced on either side of his head as Jared's bigger body blanketed him. They rocked against each other, Jared’s fattening cock velvety soft and leaking where it pressed against Jensen’s. Jared kissed him until his lips were red and swollen. Then Jared knelt up and shifted his grip to Jensen’s hips, hauling him in closer, so that Jared’s cock nudged beneath Jensen’s ball sack.

Reaching one arm off the side of the bed, Jared fished for his jeans, pooled on the floor. A predatory smile spread across his face when he returned with a sachet of lube. Jensen watched through half closed eyes as Jared quickly lubed himself up. Jared’s slipped a hand under them, running his fingers along Jensen’s taint and worming his way between his cheeks. Jensen still jolted as Jared’s broad finger entered him.

“Sorry, sorry. Need to work you open.” Jared’s hand rubbed over Jensen’s hip, before hitching Jensen's hips higher.

“No, want you now.” Jensen hissed. His own cock twitched, leaking wet against his stomach. He was so close.

Jared ignored him, slowly working him open, adding one finger and then another, until he was sure Jensen was loose and open. When Jared finally lined himself up and nudged at Jensen’s entrance, he took Jared’s cock with only a slight twinge of pain.

Time slowed as Jared fucked into him, his cock thrusting again and again deep inside him. Bright spots of pleasure lighted Jensen up as Jared pressed just right against him inside. Jared’s balls slapped rhythmically, hot and heavy, against the cheeks of his ass, and Jensen moaned. His hands roamed over Jared’s chest and shoulders, the touch of Jared’s skin making his hands tingle, and he bit his lip as his cock jerked and bobbed between them. He closed his hand around his aching length, stripping himself in time to Jared’s thrusts. He was close, so close.

The bond between them opened and a sensation of all encompassing love wrapped around them. Then there was the touch of Jared’s lips as he swooped down to kiss him. Jared purred and the whole world lit up.

Jensen didn’t know who came first, Jared suddenly spilling into him as Jensen cried out, his hand tightening around his cock. Ropes of come splattered against Jensen’s chest and he clenched down. Jared pulsed again inside him, his hips thrusting jerkily. Riding a wave of blissed out satisfaction, Jensen floated there a while. Then Jared gently pulled out and slumped down beside him on the bed.

Jensen stirred long enough to push himself out of the wet spot and drape himself over Jared’s chest. Jared hummed in contentment, his arms instantly wrapped around him, the link flooding him with sensations of happiness and contentment. Jensen had almost drifted off when he picked up the most fleeting tendril of vulnerability and uncertainty.

 

Jensen’s face was nestled into Jared’s neck, soft puffs of air striking the nape of his neck as Jared, snored on. Jensen lay there lost in thought. It seemed like a lifetime ago that he’d last found himself sprawled across the Enforcer’s body, but in reality it had only been a few short days. He rubbed his jaw against the smooth skin of Jared’s collarbone.

Growing up in the orphanage Jensen had always hated sleeping alone. As a small child, he would sneak into his parents room and slip into their bed between them. Half the time when he brought someone back to his apartment it was only so he wouldn’t wake up alone the next morning. He knew how pitiful that sounded, but lying there, he realized he’d finally found what he was looking for.

No one had ever fitted together with him like Jared, they slotted together like they were made for one other. Jensen’s fingers trailed absently through Jared’s hair. The Enforcer came across as so strong, and so far Jared had made all the advances, taken all the risks. Remembering the tendril of doubt and uncertainly he’d felt the night before, Jensen realized, if this was ever going to work, he’d have to let Jared know he cared for him, just as much as he now knew Jared cared about him. Coming to his decision, Jensen experienced a sense of peace he hadn’t felt since his parent’s death. If that wasn’t enough to start a life together, what was?

“Penny for your thoughts?” Jared’s voice was quiet.

Jensen raised himself up, folding his arms beneath his chin and gazed into sparkling golden eyes.

“I want to fuck you.”

Jared looked at him a little perplexed. “Oh, okay. Now?” He waggled his eyebrows mischievously and rolled his hips up against Jensen’s, pressing his rapidly fattening cock against Jensen’s hip.

Jensen knew his face was reddening. He wasn’t sure if he was making a complete hash of this, but his instincts were urging him on. He blurted out, “It’s not just the sex. I want to show you something.”

Jared’s smile widened and his cock surged. “I could be all up for that.”

“I want to show you you’re as much mine as I am yours.”

Jared’s smile faltered and for a moment Jensen’s heart sank. Then it returned wide and happy, tears glinting in the corners of his eyes.

“Yours.” Jared shuddered as Jensen’s lips descended on his, claiming.

: : :

 

It had taken some convincing to make Jensen wear the slouchy beanie to cover his multihued hair. It was late September, and warm, and he felt like an idiot.

“It’s for your own safety, Jensen.” Jared said reasonably, “Either that, or dye it, but we need to figure out what Qualls was working on, first. With the Skags in custody for terrorist activities, maybe this is over, but we can’t know for sure. And I don’t want to advertise the fact that we’re mated, yet. We could lose any edge we have in the case right now.” Self-conscious, Jared touched his own freshly dyed chestnut locks.

Disgruntled, but understanding the Enforcer’s logic, Jensen loaded up two travel mugs he found in the cabinets with coffee and they set off.

It had been years since a case had taken Jensen out of New-Newyork. Travel for humans had being strictly restricted by the Teeg. Sipping his coffee, Jensen stared absently out the window, while he ran through the facts of the case again.

As they flew out of the city, the mega blocks gradually diminished in size until they came to the city's walls. The vast thirty-story walls ringed New-Newyork, keeping the humans in, supposedly for their own safety. Past the wall the grey concrete jungle stopped abruptly, replaced by field after field of green.

Vast mechanized farms were the order of the day now, only accessible by hover car. With such a large population to feed, once the ten billion odd Teeg had taken up residence on Earth, agriculture had been the priority. Roads had been stripped out, highways a thing of the past as every scrap of arable land was put to use, and all those pesky humans, like Jensen's parents, safely banished to the cities.

Flying over the countryside, Jensen could see that the propaganda wasn’t quite accurate. There were still plenty of lakes and trees, and small roads and large estates dotted the landscape in these sheltered areas. Jensen would bet dollars to donuts that the occupants of these idyllic settings weren’t human. That it was Teeg who were enjoying these surroundings, at the expense of hard working people like his mom and dad, who had run a farm before the ‘Salvation’.

The navigator beeped softly when they reached their destination. Jared landed the car outside a modestly sized home.

A hover bot met them when as they exited the car.

Jared stepped up to it. “Enforcer Padalecki to see Elder Fallon.”

The hover bot blinked green, turned, and flew along a meandering path parallel to the house. Jared and Jensen followed it to a greenhouse, far more elaborate and well maintained than the shambles on the rooftop where they’d found refuge the previous night.

Jared had to duck to enter the glass encased building. Jensen whistled as he surveyed bench after bench of flowers. His mind drew a blank at the names. He seen cloned roses for sale at the market, but here there was a whole range of beautiful plants, like he’d only ever seen in pre-Teeg books.

“Welcome to my little piece of heaven, gentlemen. Come in, come in.”

The big Teeg turned and waved them in. His hair and beard were completely white, with blue streaks of only one shade. Jensen was struck by the lack of variation in color and decided to ask Jared about it after the meeting.

“Elder Fallon,” Jared nodded, “I'm Enforcer Padalecki, and this is PI Ackles. We have a bit of a problem.”

Fallon carefully sniffed the air, scenting them before he spoke. “Yes, so Enforcer Morgan tells me. Did you bring the data with you?”

Jensen’s thumb nervously rubbed the end of the data stick in his pocket. He stepped forward, trying to figure out how to phrase this politely. Jared saved him by saying, “Yes, we have it here, sir, but we need to know you won’t repeat or show any of the information you see here to anyone. We have reason to believe it could be extremely harmful to your race.”

“Our race hmmm?” A soft smile lit the old Teeg’s almond, tilted eyes and Jensen had the oddest impression the joke was on them. Nervous, he touched his beanie, worried that some of his streaks might be showing.

Fallon waved his hand, “Don’t mind a foolish old man. Let me see what you have, and I promise on the honor of my Pride, I won’t share anything damaging with anyone. I’m too old to compromise my honor, at this point.”

Jensen glanced at Jared, who nodded reassuringly.

He passed the data stick to the Elder, and the Teeg cleared a workbench to inspect the information. He passed the data stick over his comm, and with a wave of his hand, Qualls' plans floated before them on a holo plane.

The old Teeg flicked through the documents with frightening speed, purring in approval at various junctures. Jensen had to look away, the images moved so fast it was dizzying. Finally, the Teeg stopped on one page in particular. With a flick of his wrist, he brushed the others away, leaving the one document hovering above the center of the table. It was covered completely in formulas, and the elder stared at it reverently for some time. Jensen wondered if that was how he would react if he stared into the recipe for his race’s demise. He didn’t think so.

Fallon seemed to finally rouse himself, and Jensen watched the Teeg dash tears from his eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry, but you must forgive this old cat.” He turned to Jensen and asked gently, “And what was it you thought you had discovered, young man?”

Jensen gazed at Jared, concerned. Had he been so wrong, was it worse than he thought? “I’m no scientist, I just read some of Qualls notes. Most of it was frankly beyond me, but it looked like he was planning on sterilizing the whole Teeg race. I couldn’t have that falling into the wrong hands.” Jensen pulled himself up straighter in front of the elder, an embarrassed blush creeping across his cheeks. Jared’s hand on his back sent a reassuring flood of support through their bond.

“A noble thought, young one. But this is bigger than that.”

“Bigger? What? Qualls was going to kill everything?”

“No, not at all. First, let me ask you this, how many young Teeg have you ever met?”

Jensen’s brow knit. Thinking about it, he’d met some younger Teeg, over the years, but no actual children. “Well none really, but then I grew up in an orphanage. The Enforcer said he went to school with some.” Jensen gestured to Jared. “I guess I thought they were kept in some protected area or something.” Jensen finished lamely.

“Ah, Enforcer Padalecki, you must have been in the groundling group.”

Jared nodded. “My honor.”

“And our shame. You would not have been told this, but those were our only young ones to be born since our occupation of Earth.”

Jensen’s mind boggled. The Teeg were reputedly long lived, but ten billion of them had landed on Earth twenty-five years ago. There should have been more than twenty children born.

“You see PI Ackles, we _are_ a dying race. Our birthrate has been dwindling for years. A few more cycles and we would be gone, and Earth would return to your good hands.”

The Elder paced anxiously back and forth beside the workbench, practically radiating excitement. Jensen looked at Jared, completely stumped by the elder’s erratic behavior.

“Qualls must somehow have stumbled onto our secret. We were forced to flee our planet over a century ago, when our sun went supernova. As we fled the blast, our ships, our thousands of ships, were irradiated by mutated gamma particles when the sun exploded. We didn’t realize what affect it had upon us until much, much later, when our birthrate started to decline. Teeg don’t reproduce often. With our longer lifespans, a child might only be born every thirty or so years. So when the number of children being born lessened, we suddenly realized why.

“So we traveled from planet to planet, hired out as mercenaries and guides, whatever work we could find while we searched desperately for a solution, a cure. We even tried to crossbreed with other species in a desperate attempt to continue our species. The resulting offspring didn’t survive long, often hideously malformed and disabled. We gave up then, and passed a law to not pursue a bond of any kind with other species, and we searched for a planet on which to end our days. When the Skag tried to annihilate Earth's population, we saw it as a sign, that this was where our journey would stop.”

“So you took over Earth so you could die here?” Jensen stared incredulously at the elder. “Then, why make our lives so miserable in the process? Why not come clean?”

The old Teeg shrugged and sat wearily down on a stool. “Arrogance, and sheer, utter foolishness.” Fallon waved his hand, his expression sad. “Most of us didn’t even realize how poorly we were handling mankind. Harder hands than mine were in charge in those days. We have learned since then, and have been trying to make things better. What can I say? We made a terrible mistake with your people.”

“A mistake that cost me my parents and caused global misery for billions. That’s not a mistake, that’s a world class frak-up.” Jensen replied hotly. Jared’s brow furrowed, peered at Jensen, anxiously sending calming thoughts through the link.

Fallon nodded. “And that, my dear PI Ackles is what makes this all the more miraculous. You see, Qualls didn’t discover a way to make us sterile, we were already well on our way there. What he discovered was a way to reverse it.”

“What?” Jared’s voice beside him jolted Jensen as the Enforcer stepped forward. “This is a cure?”

“Yes, a cure. Humanity possesses a gene that can reverse the effects of the radiation at a cellular level and repair the damage. From his notes, he was ready to move into testing, with live subjects. It looks like his next step was to approach the Office of Reproduction.”

“But Te’var said he was in the Office of Reproduction. Why would someone in that position warn him off?” Puzzled Jensen turned to Jared. “And why were the Skags even involved?”

Jared’s forehead wrinkled in concentration. “I think the Skags wanted to kill him and destroy the data, so that when the Teeg started to weaken and die off, they could get back to the business of tearing Earth apart piece by piece, and selling it off.”

Fallon spoke up then. “I can tell you, from my limited experience, Prefect Te’var was known to be a zealot. Maybe he thought the Teeg species deserved their fate. That it would be an abomination to mix with another race, even with gene therapy. I am sure he thought things should play out as he believed they were destined to do.”

Jared nodded. “Or maybe Te'var was simply trying to warn him off because he knew that Qualls would be in danger if word got out.”

“Well Te’var’s dead, so I guess we’ll never really know for sure.” Jensen walked to another stool and sat down heavily. His head was spinning.

Jared turned to Fallon. “So, what now?”

Fallon wiped his hand through the air and the formula disappeared, replaced by twelve Teeg faces. “I must go to the Council of Twelve immediately. These twelve Teeg rule all the prides. Honestly, if there was a conspiracy of some kind going on with Te’var, there is only one man that I can think of that would want our race to die, and who has the clout to protect a petty functionary like Te’var. It’s Sebroche.” Fallon pointed at a distinguished looking Teeg, third from the right. Unlike the other Teeg, he had only green stripes in his hair.

Jensen recalled the only other Teeg he'd seen without multicolored stripes, and felt a sudden insight into the significance of the single color.

Fallon continued to speak, “It was early days when the humans were fighting the Skag. Sebroche’s mate was on an ambassadorial mission to meet with Earth’s remaining leaders and offer our help. He was killed by an Earth _‘fighter jet’_ as he landed. It was a fluke accident, the ship's shields should have been sufficient, but they had lowered them as they landed. The _‘jet pilot’_ thought it was a Skag ship landing, and he killed them all, by mistake.

Fallon gazed out the windows, a sad expression on his face, “Sebroche never got over the death of his mate. It was his iron rule as council leader that shaped the treatment of humankind, after we ousted the Skag. He was, and is, a bitter, bitter man. Without his mate, I think he may have gone a little insane. Sad to say, I can see him letting the Teeg people die with him.”

“Then how do we work around him?” Jared asked, his grip tightening on Jensen’s arm.

Fallon’s expression brightened marginally, “Thankfully, rule of the council changes every twenty years and Sebroche is no longer council leader, Messah Kollins is, and the Kollins Pride is known for their progressive policies. This last two years, since he took over as leader, he has been able to make great strides in the treatment of humankind.”

Jensen listened, more than a bit skeptical. He’d seen no great improvement in his life, but the elder seemed sincere. And the Teeg had treated his leg. Maybe there was a sea change at work.

“I want you two with me when I go. I want Qualls' part to be accurately represented in the story.”

“Anything you need us to do, Elder.” Jared nodded sincerely.

“There is just one thing.” The old Teeg smiled at them mischievously.

: : : ^^ Comments always appreciated 

 


	7. Worlds Collide

[   
](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/58091.html)

: : :

Jared purred and adjusted the closure on Jensen’s sage green formal jacket for something like the tenth time. Jensen batted his hands away impatiently.

“Do we really have to do this?” Jensen hissed. “Why can’t the elder announce this himself? Then, Bam! We’re done!”

 

Jared’s lips twitched in the ghost of a smile at his mate’s obvious impatience. “I don’t know, Jensen. I think he wants to ensure that humankind’s role in all this isn’t swept under the rug. It would be pretty easy for the Council to take the knowledge, now that Qualls is dead, and simply act on it. No human would ever know the difference, or what role their species played in the cure.” Jared shook his head thoughtfully, “Kollins is pushing for more equality between the races. Seeing the part we played is the kind of leverage he needs to make things a lot better for all of humankind on the planet. He may even push the council to reward us with a request of our choosing.”

“Yes, and I’m fully on board with our idea to ask for greater rights for humans. But why does Fallon want to ‘out’ us too? Isn’t two humans showing up enough? I was kind of getting used to the hat.”

Jared ran his large hand gently through the gleaming green- gold threads of Jensen’s hair, a mirror to the ones now proudly on display in his own. He smiled and kissed his distraught mate’s lips.

Jensen calmed at his mate’s touch, Jared was tasting particularly sweet these days. He hummed in satisfaction and chased Jared’s lips when the Enforcer reluctantly released him.

“I think maybe he wants to show the Council there can be a future for all of us on this planet. And showing that the Teeg’s new fertility can extend to humankind might smooth the road to treating humans as equals. After all, it seems we are very compatible,” Jared smirked.

They both looked up as the doors to their waiting room opened, and Morgan stepped through into the little antechamber. The black cloak of his formal Black Enforcer uniform, a mirror to Jared's own, swept around his high topped boots as he came to a stop. He grinned at the two men. “You two ready? Elder Fallon’s walked them through the situation and the part you both played in it. As expected, the Council is a bit of shock, and Kollins wants to speak with both of you.”

Morgan ran his hand through his hair, “Gotta say, you surprised the hell out of me, Padalecki. Always knew there was something special about you, boy. But this?” Morgan shook his head, smiling as he gestured at Jared. He reached to open the door. “I know the formal ceremony isn’t until next week, but I wanted to say, I think you two make a handsome couple. And I know you’ll have beautiful children together.”

Morgan pushed opened one of the big doors to the hall to leading to the council chamber. He stepped outside, holding it for them expectantly.

Jensen’s mouth dropped open in surprise, and Jared groaned and shut his eyes. Jensen glared up at him, eyes blazing, “What’s he talking about?” Jensen bristled, a dread feeling in his gut. “Children? No one said the change to my hair extended to me suddenly being able to have children. I can’t have children.” Jensen muttered more to himself than anyone as his chest started to tighten in panic.

Jared rubbed his chin looking a bit sheepishly. “About that. Umm, I was going to mention this before, but it kind of slipped my mind.”

Jensen’s eyes narrowed and his mouth opened, but no words came out. Jared rushed to fill the silence.

“Don’t worry, you still can’t have children. But that Teeg MT that Elder Fallon had me visit in preparation for our formal bonding ceremony, Jocksym I think his name was, assured me based on the ease with which we mated that there that there was a very slight possibility that, with some work, I could. I’d always wondered if it was a possibility, but I never really thought it could happen. Then he started the exam and after that little claiming of yours, it turns out, it’s very possible. I’m pregnant.”

Jensen swallowed, hard, his mouth working, but still no sound came out. Jared’s expression grew more worried, and he grabbed Jensen by the arm, tugging him in tight. Numb, Jensen followed along, his mind spinning. Children… kids with Jared. He blinked at Jared and yanked his arm free.

“Stop. Just – stop.” Jensen shook his head.

“I’ve only known for a couple of days. I was going to tell you after the meeting with the Council. I figured you had enough of your plate without springing this little nugget on you.” Jared’s smile dimmed immediately, replaced with a look of utter consternation, “I’m sorry Jensen aren’t you happy at the news? You, you don’t want children?”

Both looked up as Morgan suddenly mumbled, “Oh frak!” He muttered something about retreat being the better part of valor, and waiting for them inside, as he disappeared behind a huge set of opalescent white doors at the end of the hall.

Morgan instantly forgotten, Jensen swung to face Jared, uncaring of the waiting council. “No, No!” Jensen raked his hand through his hair and stepped back, taking deep lungs full of air. “Seriously, you couldn’t tell me about this sooner?” Jensen stared at his mate. He knew he was speaking too loudly and was on the edge of panic. Him, a father, already, now?

Bright spots had appeared on Jared’s cheeks and he was carefully looking down at his feet, scuffing one shoe over the other. His tongue darted out to wet his lips. “Would you be okay with it? You know? Having a family I mean? With me?”

Jensen reached up and cradled Jared’s head in his hand and pulled him into a fierce kiss. The room fell away as they lost themselves in the bond and the touch of teeth and lips and pushing and pulling, sliding together as one. Finally, panting, Jensen reluctantly pulled back. Jared leaned in, chasing his lips, and letting out a needy purr at the loss of his mate's touch.

Jensen closed his eyes, blushing beet red all the way down his neck, “Jared… Jared, love, believe me when I say that I can’t think of anything that could be more awesome. I never knew it was even a possibility, for you, for us.”

Jensen threw back his head and laughed, a full-body laugh. His eyes crinkled with tears of joy, and he had to brush them aside before grabbing up Jared’s hand and placing it over his rapidly beating heart. The shiver of relief and joy flooding through the bond signaled Jared’s happiness as well. Jensen swooped in for another kiss and ground his body against Jared’s, his growing arousal against Jared’s thigh obvious proof of his words. “I love you Jared Tristan Padalecki. I am so glad I am yours.”

“Mine.” Jared whispered, his fox eyes sparkling.

The door in front of them opened and Morgan stuck his head in. “Is the coast clear, yet? The council is getting anxious.”

Jared lifted Jensen’s hand to his lips and kissed it, Jared’s eyes burning bright with love and pride.

“Come on,” Jared grinned at his mate, his lover, his friend, “Let’s go change history.”

FIN

: : :  
  
^^ So? Tell me what you thought? Are you purring right now?

**Comments Immensely appreciated no matter when you read this story. ^^**

| [Master Post](http://meus-venator.livejournal.com/59664.html) on LJ  | [Art Master Post – Show my artist some love!](http://siennavie.livejournal.com/29819.html) on LJ

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** So many thanks to all the kind souls who helped me pull this together. First off a big thanks to [](http://simplybeing.livejournal.com/profile)[**simplybeing**](http://simplybeing.livejournal.com/) who is a neighbour and let me bounce ideas off her. Something about saying them out loud really helps proof an idea. She was super patient listening to me rattle on and spitballing ideas of who could be what and do what to who LOL You are a saint!.  
>  Once again thanks to my fellow **TOE** s [](http://anniespinkhouse.livejournal.com/profile)[**anniespinkhouse**](http://anniespinkhouse.livejournal.com/) and [](http://sylsdarkplace.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://sylsdarkplace.livejournal.com/)**sylsdarkplace** for giving this story a thorough going over. You helped me fill many a plot hole and inconsistency and it's thanks to you that this is now not a 100% bona fide Harlequin Romance : ) The schmoop is just barely under control!!!  
>  And buckets of extra commas and many, many thanks to my long suffering and oh, so talented editor and writer [](http://fufaraw.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://fufaraw.livejournal.com/)**fufaraw** for ruthlessly hunting down the million and one typos and missing stuff and giving me a good smack now and then and making me a better writer.  
>  Love you guys.
> 
>  **A/N 2:** Big thanks to [](http://tebtosca.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://tebtosca.livejournal.com/)**tebtosca** for running this challenge.
> 
>  **A/N 3:** And a HUGE thanks to [](http://siennavie.livejournal.com/profile)[**siennavie**](http://siennavie.livejournal.com/) who out of the blue picked my story to illustrate. I joined the challenge on practically the last day and never thought an artist would ever claim my story and them BAM! like a ninja art fairy [](http://siennavie.livejournal.com/profile)[**siennavie**](http://siennavie.livejournal.com/) appeared and magiced up all this lovely work! Go see her [ART POST](http://siennavie.livejournal.com/29819.html) and see her 'Behind the Scenes' walk through, it's pretty fascinating and while you're there give her some love. She 'got' my Bladerunner world to a T and she's wonderful to work with! * HOPS *
> 
>  


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